Schetba rufa
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The rufous vanga (Schetba rufa) is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is monotypic within the genus Schetba. It is endemic to Madagascar, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the rufous vanga in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. He used the French name La pie-griesche rousse de Madagascar and the Latin Lanius Madagascariensis rufus. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the rufous vanga. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius rufus and cited Brisson's work. The rufous vanga is now the only species placed in the genus Schetba that was introduced by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831.
Two subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 3 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous Vanga sighting in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, based on 328 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 83 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous Vanga in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, against about 40% in August and September, the lowest months. That is one of Ankarafantsika National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 560 mm in January. January–March and May have too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous Vanga sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Rufous Vanga sightings, Ankarafantsika National Park has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Ranomafana National Park (Madagascar, about 20%) and Mantadia National Park (Madagascar, under 5%).
Same family: Vangidae
The closest relatives of the Rufous Vanga that you can see in Ankarafantsika National Park (family Vangidae, Vangas, Helmetshrikes, and Allies) are Common Newtonia (about 80%), Sickle-billed Vanga (about 50%) and Van Dam's Vanga (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous Vanga is recorded against all the birds logged in Ankarafantsika National Park (328 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
