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Order Passeriformes   Family Vangidae

The vangas of the Vangidae family are small to medium passerine birds restricted to Madagascar and the Comoros. Most species are shrike-like, feeding on reptiles and insects. They build stick nests in trees and do not migrate.

Also tentatively placed in Vangidae are the following shrike-like species: flycatcher-shirkes, newtonia, philentoma, woodshrikes.

Genus Artamella - 1 species

Vanga,_White-headed  Artamella viridis  Found: Madagascar
The White-headed Vanga has dark blue upperparts; white head, underparts.
Image by: 1) Fred Leviez  2) Werner Witte 



Genus Bias - 1 species

Shrike-flycatcher,_Black-and-white   Bias musicus Found: Afica
Image by: 1) Otto_Finsch  2) Tom_Tarrant - Uganda  3) Nik_Borrow - Cameroon


Genus Calicalicus

Vanga,_Red-shouldered  Calicalicus rufocarpalis  southwestern desert of Madagascar
The male Red-shouldered Vanga has red wing coverts; gray crown, nape, mantle; white underparts, ear coverts, forehead; pick tinge to breast and flanks; pale red tail; black bill; yellow eyes; pinkish-gray feet. Female has grayish upperparts with some red on wing coverts; light beige underparts; pale yellow eyes; black eye-ring.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas  2) Attis1979  3) Amy_McAndrews
1) Female  2, 3) Male


Vanga,_Red-tailed  Calicalicus madagascariensis  Found: Madagasca
The male Red-tailed Vanga has a red tail; white underparts, ear coverts, forehead; gray crown, nape; black bib. Female has hint of red on tail; yellow breast; white belly.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas   2) Francesco_Veronesi  3) Ross Tsai  4) Jerry_Oldenettel
1) Female  2, 3, 4) Male


Genus Cyanolanius - 1 species

Vanga,_Blue  Cyanolanius madagascarinus  Found: Comoros, Madagascar, and Mayotte
The Blue Vanga has blue upperparts; white underparts.
Image by: 1)  Nick_Athanas  2) David Cook   3) Amy_McAndrew



Genus Euryceros - 1 species

Vanga,_Helmet  Euryceros prevostii  northeastern Madagascar
The Helmet Vanga has mainly blue-black plumage; rufous wings; large arched blue bill.
Image by:  1) Francesco_Veronesi  2) Eric Mathieu 



Genus Falculea - 1 species

Vanga,_Sickle-billed  Falculea palliata  Found: Madagascar
The Sickle-billed Vanga has a down-curved bill which is blue-gray fading to ivory at the tip. It has white back, head, underparta; black with blue sheen wings, tail; brown eye with black eye-ring. Females are same as males.
Image by: 1) Amy_McAndrews  2) Frank Vassen  3) Dick Daniels - Madagascar



Genus Hemipus
The flycatcher-shrikes are also placed in family Tephrodornithidae. They are closely related to the woodshrikes.

Flycatcher-shrike,_Bar-winged  Hemipus picatus  Found: southern Asia from Indian subcontinent to Indonesia
The Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike has black or grayish-brown upperparts; white slash across wings; black cap; white rump, underparts.
Similar to: The Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike has all black wings; Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike has a white slash on its otherwise black wings.
Image by: 1) Dibyendu_Ash - India  2) Hiyashi_Haka - Malaysia  3) Gihan_Jayaweera - Sri Lanka


Flycatcher-shrike,_Black-winged  Hemipus hirundinaceus  Found: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand
Similar to: The Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike has all black wings; Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike has a white slash on its otherwise black wings.
Image by: 1) Francesco_Veronesi - West Java  2) Michael_Woodruff - Malaysia



Genus Hypositta - 1 species

Vanga,_Nuthatch  Hypositta corallirostris  Found: Madagascar
Image by: 1) Joseph Wolf   2) David Cook   3) Ross_Tsai



Genus Leptopterus - 1 species

Vanga,_Chabert  Leptopterus chabert  Found: Madagascar
Image by: 1) Pat and Keith Taylor   2) Werne Witte   3) Frank Vassen  4) Marquis and Dick - Madagascar



Genus Megabyas - 1 species

Shrike-flycatcher, African   Megabyas flammulatus   Found: Africa
Image by: 1) Steve Garvie  2) Dick Daniels - specimen in Nairobi National Museum, Kenya  3, 4) Nik_Borrow - Uganda, Sierra Leone
1) Female  2, 3, 4) Male



Genus Mystacornis - 1 species

Vanga,_Crossley's  also  Crossley's Babbler  Mystacornis crossleyi  Found: Madagascar
The Crossley's Vanga has a long olive-gray bill with a slight hook at the end. The male has olive-green back, crown, wings, flanks; gray belly; black face, throat; white submoustachial strip. Female is similar but with a white throat and belly.
Image by: 1) John Gerrard Keulemans  2) David Cook



Genus Newtonia
These are small plump birds, about 12 centimetres in length. They have slender bills and usually have a pale eye. Their plumage is mainly grey or brown, paler on the underparts. They have loud, repeated songs.

Newtonia,_Archbold's Newtonia archboldi  Found: Madagascar
The Archbold's Newtonia has reddish-gray upperparts and head; white belly.
Similar to: Common Newtonia. Archbold's Newtonia has reddish tnt to upperparts; Common Newtonia has gray upperparts. Archbold's Newtonia has whiter belly than Common Newtonia.
Image by: 1) David Cook  2) Francesco_Veronesi  3) Nick_Athanas


Newtonia,_Common  Newtonia brunneicauda  Found: Madagascar
The Common Newtonia has gray-brown upperparts, head. tail; buff underparts; black bill.
Similar to: Archbold's Newtonia. Archbold's Newtonia has reddish tnt to upperparts; Common Newtonia has gray upperparts. Archbold's Newtonia has whiter belly than Common Newtonia.
Image by: 1) Vil Sandi  2) David Cook


Newtonia, Dark  Newtonia amphichroa  Found: Madagascar
Image by: foto lulu


Newtonia,_Red-tailed  Newtonia fanovanae  Found: Madagascar
The Red-tailed Newtonia has gray upperparts with grayish-brown mantle; white underparts, eye-ring; rufous-brown tail.
Image by: 1) foto lulu   Skip_Russell



Genus Pseudobias - 1 species

Flycatcher,_Ward's  Pseudobias wardi  Found: Madagascar
The Ward's Flycatcher has black back, head, tails; black-and-white wings; white throat.
Image by: 1) Ross Tsai  2) Jerry_Oldenettel



Genus Oriolia - 1 species

Vanga,_Bernier's  Oriolia bernieri  Found: Madagascar
Image by: 1) John Gerrard Keulemans  2) Ross Tsai  3) Paul French



Genus Philentoma
These birds are sometimes placed in the Prionopidae family with the helmetshrikes.

Philentoma,_Maroon-breasted  Philentoma velata  Found: Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
The Maroon-breasted Philentoma has mainly dull blue plumage; blackish face; maroon breast.
Image by: 1) Nicolas Le Jeune 2) Daniel Koh - Singapore


Philentoma,_Rufous-winged  Philentoma pyrhoptera  Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
The Rufous-winged Philentoma has dull blue head, nape, mantle, breast; maroon  wings; light belly.
Image by: 1) Wokoti  Naturelly



Genus Schetba - 1 species

Vanga,_Rufous  Schetba rufa  Found: Madagascar
The Rufous Vanga has rufous upperparts; black head; white underparts. Male has black bib.
Image by: 1) Ross Tsai  2) Jerry_Oldenettel  3) Amy_McAndrews
1) Female  2, 3) Male



Genus Tephrodornis
The woodshrikes are also considered to be in family Tephrodornithidae

Woodshrike,_Common  Tephrodornis pondicerianus  Found: Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia
The Common Woodshrike has dull ashy-brown upperparts; dark cheek patch; creamy supercilium; dark upper-tail with white outer tail feathers; white underparts.
Image by: 1) Shantanu_Kuveskar  2) Tarique_Sani  3) Lip_Kee - India


Woodshrike,_Large  Tephrodornis virgatus  Found: China, India, southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by: 1) Pkspks - India  2) Dibyendu_Ash - India


Woodshrike,_Malabar  Tephrodornis sylvicola  Found: western India
The Malabar Woodshrike is also considered a subspecies of the Large Woodshrike.

Image by: 1) drpravi  2) Nagesh_Kamath
1) Female 2) Male


Woodshrike,_Sri_Lanka 

  Found:Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Woodshrike is also considered to be a subspecies of the Common Woodshrike.
Image by: 1) Danushka_Senadheera 2) Thimindu Goonatillake



Genus Tylas - 1 species

Vanga,_Tylus  Tylas eduardi  Found: Madagascar
The Tylus Vanga has gray upperparts; black head; white collar, underparts.
Image by: 1) 1) Jerry_Oldenettel  2, 3) Ross Tsai



Genus Vanga- 1 species

Vanga,_Hook-billed  Vanga curvirostris  Found: Madagascar
The Hook-billed Vanga has black rear-crown, wings; white fore-crown, neck, underparts.
Image by: 1) Ross Tsai  2) Allan_Hopkins  3) Zak_Pohlen



Genus Xenopirostris

Vanga,_Lafresnaye's  Xenopirostris xenopirostrisFound: Madagascar
Image by: 1) Fred Veviez  2) Charles_Davies


Vanga,_Pollen's  Xenopirostris polleni  Found: Madagascar
Image by: 1) Cristopher Meier  2) Zak_Pohlen  3) Jerry_Oldenettel


Vanga,_Van_Dam's  Xenopirostris damii  Found: Madagascar
Image by: 1) Skip_Russell  2) Ross Tsai  2) Francesco_Veronesi




Order Passeriformes   Family Prionopidae


Genus Prionops
The helmetshrikes are found in Africa and are related to the shrikes of family Laniidae, but it is uncertain how close that relationship is. They have similar habits and habitats, but perhaps this is because of convergent evolution.. Helmetshirke heads are distinctive, hence the name helmetshrike. They are sometimes placed in their family Vangidae.

Helmetshrike,_Angola also Gambela Helmetshrike  Prionops gabela  Found: Angola
Image by: 1) 1) Nik Borrow


Helmetshrike, Chestnut-fronted  Prionops scopifrons  Found: south Africa
The Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike has dark gray upperparts, head; lighter gray breast, upper-belly; white lower-belly; blue wattles around yellow eye; red bill.
Similar to: Retz's Helmetshrike. Retz's Helmetshrike has darker underparts than Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike. Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrikee has blue wattles around eye; Retz's Helmetshrike has red wattles around eyes.
Image by: 1) Dick Daniels - specimen in Nairobi National Museum, Kenya  2, 3) Gteve Garvie


Helmetshrike,_Gray-crested  Prionops poliolophus  Found: Kenya, Tanzaia
The Gray-crested Helmetshrike has gray crest continues to partial collar; black back; black wings with some white; whitish head; white underparts.
Image by: 1, 2) Steve Garvie - Kenya  3, 4) Nik_Borrow - Tanzania


Helmetshrike,_Red-billed  Prionops caniceps  Found: Africa
The Red-billed Helmetshrike has black upperparts; black head with gray crown and forehead; red bill; white underparts.
Image by: 1) Francesco_Veronesi. - Ghana  2) Nik_Borrow - Ghana  


Helmetshrike, Retz's  Prionops retzii  Found: Africa
The Retz's Helmetshrike has black head, neck. breast, upper-belly; dark brown wings; white lower-belly; small red wattles around yellow eyes.
Similar to: Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike. Retz's Helmetshrike has darker underparts than Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike. Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrikee has blue wattles around eye; Retz's Helmetshrike has red wattles around eyes.
Image by: 1) Dick Daniels - specimen in Nairobi National Museum, Kenya   2) Steve Garvie - Kenya  3) Jerry Oldenettel - botswana  4) Lip Kee - Botswana


Helmetshrike,_Rufous-bellied  Prionops rufiventris  Found: Angola, Cameroon, DR Congo
The Rufous-bellied Helmetshrike has black upperparts; gray head; white lores, forehead; black collar; white lower breast; rufous belly.
Image by: 1) hbw.com


Helmetshrike, White  also  White-crested  Helmetshrike  Prionops plumatus  Found: Africa
The White Helmetshrike has mainly black-and-white plumage; gray head with whitish crest; yellow wattles around yellow eyes.
Image by: 1) Dick Daniels - specimen in Nairobi National Museum, Kenya    2) Darren Bellerby - Kruger National Park, South Africa  3, 4) Charlie Westerinen - Victoria Falls in Zimbabwae


Helmetshrike,_Yellow-crested  Prionops alberti  Found: DR Congo
The Yellow-crested Helmetshrike has mainly black plumage, yellow from top of crest down to eye-level
Image by: 1) hbw.com




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