Mystacornis crossleyi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Crossley's vanga (Mystacornis crossleyi), also known as Crossley's babbler-vanga, Crossley's babbler, Madagascar groundhunter, or Madagascar groundjumper, is a bird species in the family Vangidae. It is named after the specimen collector Alfred Crossley.
The bird is in the monotypic genus Mystacornis. The species is an example of convergent evolution: its bill and body shape adapted to its habit of looking for insect prey in the leaf litter, eventually becoming so similar to that of ground-babblers that early naturalists initially classified the Crossley's vanga into what was then known as the babbler family, Timaliidae.
Crossley's vanga is a small babbler-like bird, 15 cm long and weighing around 25 g. Its most distinctive feature is the olive-grey bill, which is disproportionately long and slightly hooked at the end. The plumage of the male is olive green on the crown, back, wings, tail and flanks, a grey belly, black throat and face, with a white submoustachial stripe and grey stripe above the eye. The legs are grey and the iris black. The female is similar but with a white throat and belly.
The breeding season for... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Crossley's Babbler sighting in Ranomafana National Park on a given day, based on 208 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 41st most-seen of the 102 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Crossley's Babbler in Ranomafana National Park on a given day, against about 20% in March–April, August–September and December, the lowest months. That is one of Ranomafana National Park's driest months, with about 110 mm of rain against 450 mm in January. January and June have too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crossley's Babbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Crossley's Babbler sightings, Ranomafana National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Mantadia National Park (Madagascar, about 30%).
Same family: Vangidae
The closest relatives of the Crossley's Babbler that you can see in Ranomafana National Park (family Vangidae, Vangas, Helmetshrikes, and Allies) are Tylas Vanga (about 60%), Red-tailed Vanga (about 60%) and Common Newtonia (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crossley's Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Ranomafana National Park (208 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.
