Kingdom Animalia Scientific name Mystacornis crossleyi Higher classification Mystacornis Order Passerine | Family Vangidae Phylum Chordata Rank Species | |
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Genus Mystacornis
Sharpe, 1870 Similar Mindanao miniature babbler, Falcated wren‑babbler, Visayan pygmy babbler, Kupeornis, Sumatran babbler | ||
Crossley's vanga (Mystacornis crossleyi), also known as Crossley's babbler-vanga, Crossley's babbler, or Madagascar groundjumper, is a bird species in the family Vangidae.
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Taxonomy
The bird is in the monotypic genus Mystacornis. Once placed in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae, its position with the vangas is still not universally accepted.
Description
Crossley's vanga is a small babbler-like bird, 15 cm long and weighing around 25 g. Its most distinctive feature is the olive-grey bill, which is disproportionately long and slightly hooked at the end. The plumage of the male is olive green on the crown, back, wings, tail and flanks, a grey belly, black throat and face, with a white submoustachial stripe and grey stripe above the eye. The legs are grey and the iris black. The female is similar but with a white throat and belly.
Breeding
The breeding season for this species is from August to November. The male builds a shallow cup nest of twigs and rootlets in a tree or other vegetation around 1.5 m off the ground. Two to three eggs are laid and incubated by both sexes.
Feeding
It forages singly or in pairs. It is a terrestrial bird that feeds on the ground on spiders, cockroaches, earwigs, true bugs, grasshoppers and ants. It rarely flies but instead walks and runs and probing its bill into leaf-litter, mosses, and soil.
Distribution and habitat
Crossley's vanga is endemic to Madagascar. It is distributed in the east of Madagascar in broadleaf forest, from sea level up to 1800 m.