Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

We now feature the last of the special Madagascan bird groups. This, a Long-billed Bernieria, Bernieria madagascariensis, belongs to the family Bernieridae, which was only recently recognized. Previously, members of this family were included in three different families: the Bulbul family, Pycnonotidae; the Babbler family, the Timaliidae; and the Warbler family, the Sylviidae. Recent research in genetics shook the picture up considerably, and it was found that several of the Madagascan species attributed to these families, were actually much closer related to each other than to any other species in the families they were put in. Thus, a new family had to be recognized.

The Bernieridae, as presently recognized, contains eleven species. Most of these are rather dull and unassuming-looking; the most boldly coloured is the White-throated Oxylabes, which used to be thought a babbler. It is rich reddish brown with a prominent white throat. All the other members of the family are brownish, greyish or dull greenish-yellow in colour, with little in the way of prominent markings. This enables them to hide very well in their forest home. They are all quite small, the long-billed Bernieria, with a length of 20 cm/8", being the largest, and the Cryptic Warbler, at 11.5 cm/4.5", being the smallest. The cryptic warbler was described only in 1996. The eleven species are additionally interesting in that all but four, the Tetrakas in the genus Xanthomixis, are classified in single-species genera – eight genera in all. The Bernieridae is therefore the second-largest group of Madagascan birds, after the Vangas – and because the Vangas are presently recognized as also having African and Asian members, the Bernieridae is thus the largest entirely endemic Madagascan family.

It appears that the Bernieridae are most closely related to the Cisticolidae, the Cisticola family. This family is predominately African, with some members in Asia and some as far as southern Europe and Australia. There is one proper cisticola in Madagascar, which is likely descended from a very recent immigrant. It is possible that a cisticola-like bird from Africa made it to the island of Madagascar much earlier, at least 9 million years ago, and subsequently diversified into the present-day members of the Bernieridae. It's quite possible that more species existed in the recent past. Madagascar has been extremely hard-hit by humans ever since those entered the island a thousand or so years ago. The entire island has suffered massive destruction and degradation of its native forests, and many species, most tragically the giant lemurs, forest hippos and elephant birds, went extinct. We know of these huge creatures from their fossil remains; but tiny things such as warbler-like birds would leave far less conspicuous remains, and especially forest-living creatures would be unlikely to leave fossils. It is quite plausible that the several species that occupy their own genera, are the left-overs, in that many more species used to belong to those genera in the past. Modern members of the family are short-winged, weak fliers, and none have managed to move out of Madagascar, not even to the nearby Comoro Islands.

The modern members of the family have diversified in bill size, length and shape. All of them are mainly insect-eating, but they have different ways of catching their prey, for instance snapping them out of the air or from the surface of foliage, or probing into bark, moss or even in the leaf litter. Some are more terrestrial, others more arboreal, some foraging high in the treetops. They often feed with other birds, in what is called bird parties, of up to six species. Such bird parties make their way through the forest, with each species targeting a specific kind of invertebrate; and the critters fleeing from one bird are often spied and snapped up by another.

As regards their nests, the Bernieridae still closely resemble their cisticolid ancestors. The nest is generally a small cup made from grasses or fine plant fibers, situated in the fork of a tree or shrub, usually not far above the ground. The cryptic warbler makes a more globular nest with a side entrance, like those of some of the cisticolas proper. The clutch is typically one to three eggs, incubated by both parents. Sadly, we still know little about the overall breeding behaviour of these birds.

Our featured species, the Long-billed Bernieria, is also called a Common or Long-billed Tetraka. An old, obsolete name for it is the Long-billed Greenbul. That no longer works, because this is not a greenbul at all. Greenbuls are African members of the bulbul family, the Pycnonotidae. This and other species only resemble greenbuls superficially; they're not at all closely related. The other four tetrakas used to be put in the same genus, but as noted above, they've now been removed to one of their own. The long-billed Bernieria differs from all other members of the family by its unusually long, thin bill. Such a bill gives it a good 'reach', enabling it to snap up small insects at a distance or even in mid-flight. It occurs in wet to dry forests all over Madagascar except for the arid south. It is vocal, as are the other members of the family. Its typical or contact call while it feeds is a harsh 'cheer-cheer', but it gives a more melodious 'chee chee tee tee' from a perch, likely as a territorial call.

This species, like others in its family, is fairly undemanding in terms of habitat requirements. The most widespread of the species, it can be considered in no immediate danger of extinction, but its plight, as that of so many other Madagascan critters, depends on the preservation of the wild forests of the island.

Willem

11.09.23 Front Page

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