Vanga

Vanga

There are 12 species of vangas, all restricted to the island of Madagascar. These shrike-like birds have evolved quite differently than any other bird because of their isolation, making it very difficult to determine their relationship to other birds. The vanga reaches lengths between 5 and 12 inches. The plumage is dark on the uppersurface, either black, grey, blue or brown, and white on the undersurface. Like Darwin's finches the various species of vanga have highly specialized bills, distinguishing the one species from the next. For example, one species of vanga has a long, slender bill while another has a heavy bill, smaller than, but similar to a toucan. [BM] {FW}