Calicalicus madagascariensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The red-tailed vanga (Calicalicus madagascariensis) is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red-tailed vanga in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name La petite pie-griesche de Madagascar and the Latin Lanius Madagascariensis minor. 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 red-tailed vanga. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius madagascariensis and cited Brisson's work. The species is now placed in the genus Calicalicus that was introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854. The species is monotypic. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Red-tailed Vanga sighting in Mantadia National Park on a given day, based on 271 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 98 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.
May
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Red-tailed Vanga in Mantadia National Park on a given day, against about 20% in September, the lowest month. That is one of Mantadia National Park's driest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 340 mm in January. January to April have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-tailed Vanga sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Red-tailed Vanga sightings, Mantadia National Park ranks 2nd at about 50%. The best odds are in Ranomafana National Park (Madagascar, about 60%).
Same family: Vangidae
The closest relatives of the Red-tailed Vanga that you can see in Mantadia National Park (family Vangidae, Vangas, Helmetshrikes, and Allies) are Common Newtonia (about 50%), Nuthatch-Vanga (about 40%) and Tylas Vanga (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-tailed Vanga is recorded against all the birds logged in Mantadia National Park (271 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.
