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The Vangas of Madagascar

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The Vangas of Madagascar THE VANGAS OF MADAGASCAR Different by design TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK GARBUTT Islands are often peculiar and quirky. It’s their idiosyncrasies that make them special. While continental hotspots may support the greatest diversity of birds, islands are generally the home of more unusual species: they are the realms of endemics. The most spectacular member of the family, the Helmet Vanga is also one of the most predatory. Its massive beak is a formidable weapon and can subdue prey like chameleons, other lizards and frogs. Quite why the beak is such a vivid blue is more of a mystery. 28 VANGAS adagascar is a classic case in to occupy niches filled in other parts of the point. The island has perhaps world by woodpeckers, wood-hoopoes, Msix endemic families (depend- shrikes, tits and even nuthatches. ing on the taxonomy followed), including Today, this variety is particularly mani- such oddities as the ground-rollers (see fested in their beak shapes – short and Masoala NP Vol. 5, No. 2), mesites (variously consid- neat, long and probing, thickset and heavy Ampijoroa ered rails, pigeons or passerines), asities – but also in their body size and plumage. and the equally enigmatic cuckoo-roller. So dramatic has been their diversification MADAGASCAR There are 37 regionally endemic genera, that on the face of it the only common many of which comprise only a single spe- feature the vangas share is their co-habita- Mantadia NP cies, and out of a total of 204 breeding tion of Madagascar. Antananarivo Andasibe species on the island, a staggering 120 are Although this spectacular radiation of Morondava found nowhere else. shrike-like birds has long been recognised, The vangas are perhaps the island’s most the exact composition of the family has Ranomafana NP celebrated endemic family (Vangidae) and been discussed, challenged and disputed provide an excellent example of adaptive many times over. The fundamental diffi- radiation – the process whereby a small culty has been to demonstrate a theme of Ifaty Forest stock of founders becomes isolated and morphological traits to link such a diverse is then driven by evolution to diversify group and confirm a common ancestry. spectacularly. The founding species in this case may have resembled something like a f you were to flick through one of the present-day helmet-shrike and when they current field guides to the birds of became established on Madagascar there IMadagascar, it would probably list a were probably few other birds in residence. total of 15 vanga species. All are found Seizing the opportunity, the vangas evolved only on Madagascar (with the exception of the Blue Vanga Cyanolanius madagascar- iensis, which also occurs on the Comoros) and all are native forest-dwellers that have largely been unable to adapt to habitats occasionally including fruit in their diet, A variation is those vangas that com- Opposite Found throughout the drier altered by human intervention. Even a and other, larger species like Hook-billed bine regular gleaning with some aerial forest areas, the Sickle-billed Vanga is a cursory glance at the plates would illus- Vanga Vanga curvirostris and Helmet Vanga hunting manoeuvres, and exponents of noisy species regularly encountered in trate the extent of their diversity, from the Euryceros prevostii also tackling small verte- this method include Chabert’s Vanga and flocks of up to a dozen birds (and even garrulous Sickle-billed Vanga Falculea pallia- brate prey from time to time. What is the Tylas Vanga Tylas eduardi. The most up to 40 have been recorded). ta to the diminutive Nuthatch Vanga interesting is the range of methods and spectacular, however, is the Blue Vanga, Hypositta corallirostris, at 13–14 centimetres techniques that different family members not only because of the male’s outrageous Above One of three species of vanga the smallest member of the family. As its employ to find and predate their prey. It is electric-blue plumage, but also because of belonging to the genus Xenopirostris, name implies, this species bears an uncan- this range of strategies, in combination its ability to winkle insects from clusters of Pollen’s Vanga inhabits the rainforests ny likeness to true nuthatches, and in fact with variation in target prey, that has led leaves while hanging upside-down. I’ve of the east, although, somewhat was originally classified as one. to the evolution of such variation in beak watched individuals return repeatedly to mysteriously, it is more common in the However, recent DNA analysis has not size and design. the ends of branches and perform intri- southern portion of the rainforest belt only provided confirmation that the Recent field studies in Madagascar have cate aerobatics in order to finally remove a than in the north. Ranomafana various members of the family do indeed begun to provide some information on juicy morsel. National Park is the best place to see share a common ancestry but also raises vanga feeding ecology. Broadly speaking, Many of the larger vangas, like Hook- this species. the distinct possibility that the group is five sub-groups emerge which each adopt billed, Helmet and the Rufous Vanga far more diverse than was previously a different foraging strategy. Schetba rufa are primarily aerial specialists: thought. This molecular evidence suggests The smaller species, like Red-tailed their hunting technique is to sit and wait that several other endemic Malagasy birds Vanga Calicalicus madagascariensis, the in the canopy or understorey, constantly may in fact also belong to the vanga recently described Red-shouldered Vanga searching the branches and foliage for radiation. These include Cross ley’s Babbler C. rufocarpalis and Nuthatch Vanga, are potential victims. Once prey is located Mystacornis crossleyi, Ward’s Flycatcher primarily ‘gleaners’ that search for and they swoop in to snatch and claim their Pseudobias wardi and Common Newtonia gather their prey when hopping around meal. While it is likely that most of these Newtonia brunneicauda. If the latter is con- branches. The Nuthatch Vanga is the most hunts take place in the canopy, the Rufous firmed, the logical conclusion would be specialised: it always faces ‘head up’ and Vanga is also known to forage at or around that the Dark Newtonia N. amphichroa and ascends the boles and branches of large ground level. It has even been seen captur- Archbold’s Newtonia N. archboldi would trees, scouring the bark. It is often aggres- ing prey flushed by ground-feeding birds also be vangas. sive towards conspecifics, frequently chas- such as White-breasted Mesites pecking All vangas are primarily insectivorous, ing intruders away. The Newtonia species through leaf-litter. with some species such as the Blue Vanga would also fall into this group, were they However, the Hook-billed and Helmet and Chabert’s Vanga Leptopterus chabert to be reclassified as vangas. vangas are perhaps the most classically 30 VANGAS AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2004 VANGAS 31 predatory members of the family and parents were away from the nest. On their forest of the south and south-west. their beaks are correspondingly large and return the parents’ beaks were filled with Somewhat mysteriously, Van Dam’s Vanga powerful. A couple of years ago in tasty morsels that were unceremoniously X. damii, probably the most endangered Ranomafana National Park I found a leaf- rammed down the throat of an eager member of the family, is found only at tailed gecko lying on a forest path and chick. It was, however, the range of prey two widely separate localities: the dry screaming in the most blood-curdling items that surprised me. As expected, large deciduous forests around Ankarafantsika fashion imaginable. The reason was obvi- insects like katydids, stick insects and in the north-west and the more humid ous: it had lost its tail and a drop of scarlet mantises featured heavily, but other inver- deciduous forests at Analamera in the far blood oozed from the stump that remained. tebrates included centipedes and even a north-east. I looked around the nearby vegetation scorpion. Less frequently, larger vertebrate With so many varied ways of finding and soon saw the culprit for the gecko’s prey items appeared on the menu, includ- food it is not surprising that different van- injury – a Hook-billed Vanga sat on a ing forest floor-dwelling stump-tailed cha- gas often forage in concert. Mixed feeding branch some 10 metres away, with the meleons (Brookesia spp.) as well as other parties of birds characterise many tropical gecko’s tail in its beak. Before swallowing small chameleons, a very small snake (pos- forests and in Madagascar vangas are often it, the vanga knocked the still-twitching sibly a thread snake) and numerous small the principal constituents of such flocks. tail several times against the branch. frogs, including a number of brightly In these aggregations, different species The bird then continued to search the coloured species I’d not seen before. move through the canopy at slightly dif- forest-floor in typical fashion – tilting its Perhaps the most specialised member of head from side to side – before giving up the family is the Sickle-billed Vanga, which and flying back up the trail and out of fills the niche occupied by woodpeckers sight. I was just about to release the gecko, and wood-hoopoes on mainland Africa. It when the vanga reappeared and again uses its long decurved beak to probe began systematically searching the forest- beneath bark and in crevices for insect floor and understorey. Not wanting to grubs and other invertebrates. It is often condemn the gecko, I waited for a few encountered in noisy flocks of various All [vangas] are native forest- minutes until the vanga once more disap- sizes (sometimes more than a dozen birds), peared before releasing the gecko onto the their characteristic plaintive cries and trunk of a small tree.
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