Red-tailed Vanga
Calicalicus madagascariensis
Small vanga that is built like a chickadee or tit. Male is colorful and female plain brownish. Madagascar endemic that is found in all forest types, though absent from much of the southwestern spiny forest. Very active and vocal bird that often leads forest flocks. Most common vocalization is a wolf whistle. Separated from Red-shouldered Vanga by its dark eye and less red on the wing. Female very similar to the rare and localized Red-tailed Newtonia, but identified by its larger size, much larger bill, and buffy ring around the eye.
Identification
The red-tailed vanga (Calicalicus madagascariensis) is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red-tailed vanga in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name La petite pie-griesche de Madagascar and the Latin Lanius Madagascariensis minor. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the red-tailed vanga. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius madagascariensis and cited Brisson's work. The species is now placed in the genus Calicalicus that was introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854. The species is monotypic.
Taxonomy
Genus: Calicalicus; Family: Vangidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Calicalicus madagascariensis
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Vangidae
- Genus
- Calicalicus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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