Hook-billed Vanga
Vanga curvirostris
Big black-and-white vanga with a strong hooked bill. Madagascar endemic that uses all types of forest, and some plantations and scrub. Seen mostly in the mid-story, singly or in pairs. A serious predator that will grab just about any other animal that it can manage to swallow. Perhaps for that reason, doesn’t often join mixed flocks, and is often mobbed by smaller birds. Song is a long, ghostly whistle. Distinctive pattern, particularly black-and-white wing markings, unlike any other vanga.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Vanga curvirostris
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Vangidae
- Genus
- Vanga
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Cordillera Ground-Warbler
Robsonius rabori
A medium-sized bird of lowland forest floor in northern Luzon. Fairly stout, with a pale lower bill, long legs, and large feet. Pale below, with a grayish scaled chest and brown under the base of the tail. Note rufous face and forehead with pale bare skin in front of the eye, brown upperparts with two dotted white wingbars, and orange flight feathers. Unmistakable. Song is a very high-pitched short phrase, “tseeee sip tseeee!”
Rusty Laughingthrush
Pterorhinus poecilorhynchus
Beautiful songbird, bright rust-orange above, gray below, with white undertail coverts and blue skin around the eye. Inhabits montane forests, from which it descends into foothills in winter. Social and noisy; gives a wide range of different whistling, hooting, and clucking noises.
Arctic Warbler
Phylloscopus borealis
Dull, relatively unmarked olive-brown warbler with a prominent yellowish-white eyestripe, faint wingbars, and pale whitish underparts. Visually inseparable from Japanese and Kamchatka Leaf Warblers; listen for song, an electric chattery trill. Also gives a metallic two-noted call and a short harsh buzz. Breeds in shrubby areas, often near water, throughout the Eurasian taiga. Breeding range extends to Alaska, where it is the only leaf warbler. Winters in lowland and foothill forest, forest edge, and gardens, primarily in Southeast Asia.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.