- Crossley's Vanga
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Crossley's Vanga 
Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Vangidae Genus: Mystacornis
Sharpe, 1870Species: M. crossleyi Binomial name Mystacornis crossleyi
(Grandidier, 1870)The 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. It is in the monotypic genus Mystacornis. The species was once placed in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae and its position with the vangas is still not universally accepted. It is endemic to Madagascar. It is distributed in the east of Madagascar in broadleaf forest, from sea level up to 1800 m.
Details of morphology
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.
The Crossley's Vanga 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.
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.
References
- BirdLife International 2004. Mystacornis crossleyi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 26 July 2007.
- Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70–291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
External links
Vangas (order: Passeriformes • family: Vangidae) Genus Calicalicus Schetba Vanga Xenopirostris Falculea Artamella Leptopterus Cyanolanius Blue Vanga (including Comoro Blue Vanga)Oriolia Euryceros Tylas Hypositta Nuthatch Vanga (or Coral-billed Nuthatch-vanga) • Bluntschli's Vanga (or Short-toed Nuthatch-vanga)Newtonia Mystacornis Pseudobias This Vangidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
