Sickle-billed Vanga Falculea palliata Scientific name definitions

32 cm; 106–119 g. Distinctive; the largest vanga, and with exceptionally long (to 70 mm), strongly decurved bill and sturdy legs. Has white head , neck  , chin and throat , and underparts ; upperparts black with blue sheen, rump white, upperwing and tail black ; white underwing-coverts; iris blackish-brown, orbital ring blackish-slate; bill bluish-grey fading to ivory tip, gape blackish-slate; legs dark grey to pale blue. Sexes alike. Juvenile is similar to adult, but black back and wing feathers tipped with buff.

N, W & S Madagascar.

Dry deciduous forest and thorn-forest; also savanna, even if sparsely wooded, and wooded areas around villages . Sea-level to 900 m.

Sedentary.

Invertebrates  , including spiders (Araneae), cockroaches (Blattodea), crickets and grasshoppers (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), other insects , worms (Oligochaeta); also small vertebrates, e.g. geckos (Gekkonidae). Nestling diet includes similar range of invertebrates, also small vertebrates such as geckos and chameleons (Chamaeleonidae). Favours large branches, living or dead, for foraging. Uses long bill to probe into holes and crevices in trunks of dead and live trees and to lever off bark; gleans insects from surfaces. Holds large prey items with its feet and dismembers them with bill. Gregarious, more so during non-breeding season, when forms flocks of 20–30 or more individuals (and communal roosts numbering in excess of 50); foraging groups often mix with Artamella viridis, and often seen with Madagascar Crested Drongos (Dicrurus forficatus). When not calling, a feeding group of present species can be remarkably inconspicuous, startling the human observer by flying up from a tree while calling vigorously.

Various loud screeching, crying and chortling sounds , given by group-members in unison, particularly when going to roost. Most characteristic call a loud "wa-aah" , like sound of a crying baby. Contact call a nasal "gaaa gaaa gaaa"; alarm "kekekeke..." .

Season Oct–Jan in NW (Ampijoroa). Polyandrous: more than two males copulate with one female, and all males (and female) feed young; males participate in territorial defence, in defence against predators and, infrequently, in nest-building, incubation and brooding. Nest cup-shaped, large (diameter 30–40 cm), made from thorny or smooth twigs, interior lined with more delicate material, built 9–16 m above ground and usually in fork of tree. Clutch 3–4 eggs, creamy white and heavily mottled, especially at larger end, with grey to violet-grey or maroon; incubation period 16–18 days; nestling period 19–23 days.

Not globally threatened. Common to fairly common in most of range, especially in W & S. Occurs in several protected areas, e.g. Ankarafantsika National Park (Ampijoroa), Kirindy and Andohahela National Parks and Berenty Reserve.