Birds of Africa
View allAll Photos Tagged drongo
a fork tailed drongo (dicrurus adsimilis) in his natural enviroment.
punda maria,knp, South Africa
original file here:
Sitting on my laundry line, a Spangled Drongo, these beautiful migratory birds visit me for a few months each year. This year a pair of Drongos are visiting and I hope they will have a family before they leave.
Birdlife Australia says "The Spangled Drongo has glossy black plumage, with iridescent blue-green spots (spangles), a long forked tail and blood red eyes. Sexes are similar, but the female is slightly smaller. Occasional white spotting can be seen on the upper wings of both sexes. Young birds are more sooty black without the spangles and the eye is brown. The Spangled Drongo is noisy and conspicuous, usually active, and frequently aggressive to other species."
The white spot at the base of the beak is the distinguishing feature.
My Photoblog- My Third Eye...!
Captured on my terrace
Thank you, Anuj, for helping with the ID of the bird
My Photoblog- My Third Eye...!
The bird is found widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia with several populations that vary in the shade of grey. The adult birds are mainly dark grey, and the tails are long and deeply forked. There are a number of subspecies varying in the shade of the grey plumage. Some subspecies have white markings on the head. Young birds are dull brownish grey.
Taken at Sandy Camp Rd Wetlands Reserve, Lytton,Queensland.
May 2022
Caught just perfectly in the afternoon light, his blue iridescent spangles are at their best!
The Spangled Drongo is a noisy and conspicuous bird, usually actively hunting, and frequently aggressive to other species.
The name drongo was once a popular local insult meaning "idiot" or "stupid fellow". This usage derives from an Australian racehorse of the same name (apparently named after the Spangled drongo bird) back in the 1920s that never won a race despite many places.
Wild South Africa
Kruger National Park
This drab colored bird is a common resident in the Kruger National Park but you should not be misled by its appearance. The drongo is a highly intelligent bird and has the ability to mimic calls of other animals and it uses this skill to distract them. For example the Dwarf Mongoose has a number of different alarm calls for different predators. The drongo has learnt to imitate these calls. It will sit in trees above the foraging mongoose watching closely and waiting for one of them to catch something. At this point the drongo screeches the mimicked mongoose alarm call, sending the whole colony scattering for cover – leaving behind the food that they have just caught. The drongo then swoops in, picks up the abandoned food and heads back into the trees to enjoy the mongooses’ hard earned meal.
The Ashy Drongos are back. It has been many years since I saw them in the backyard. Formerly a common sight, they just seemed to have disappeared and their place taken over by the Bronzed Drongos. Now, luckily I see both species in plenty. As can be seen the adults have a long and deeply forked tail and the iris is crimson. They are similar in appearance to the Black Drongo but are slimmer and have a somewhat longer and less-splayed tail.
Taken on a very cloudy and rainy morning...
Not a particularly good photo but it was the first time I saw this species. It only showed up once in a place where there wasn't that much light.
Botanic gardens - Singapore
Wild South Africa
Kruger National Park
This drab colored bird is a common resident in the Kruger National Park but you should not be misled by its appearance. The Drongo is a highly intelligent bird and has the ability to mimic calls of other animals and it uses this skill to distract them to steal their food.
Wikipedia: The black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia and accidental visitor of Japan. It is an all black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm (11 in) in length. It feeds on insects, and is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines. The species is known for its aggressive behavior towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any bird of prey that invades its territory. This behavior earns it the informal name of king crow. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting black drongo.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_drongo
Conservation status: Least Concern
This shot will help one understand why the bird is named 'Bronzed'. The bird is a daily visitor to the backyard and it loves to announce its arrival with a harsh grating call. Also they choose prominent perches from where to scan the surroundings for prey and so it makes it easy for us to get good shots of them. They are great flyers and are a joy to watch. They actively forage for insects under the forest canopy by making acrobatic aerial sallies, often returning to their favourite perches.
They are very similar to the other drongos of the region but are somewhat smaller and compact with differences in the fork depth and the patterns of gloss on their feathers.
Wikipedia: The ashy drongo (Dicrurus leucophaeus) is a species of bird in the drongo family Dicruridae. It is found widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia with several populations that vary in the shade of grey, migration patterns and in the size or presence of white patches around the eye.
It breeds in the hills of tropical southern Asia from eastern Afghanistan east to southern China, Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan (particularly Okinawa) and Indonesia. Many populations in the northern part of its range are migratory.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashy_drongo
Conservation status: Least Concern
Taken at Crows Nest N.P. Queensland.
Australia’s only Drongo, the Spangled Drongo has glossy black plumage, with iridescent blue-green spots (spangles), a long forked tail and blood red eyes.
It’s noisy and conspicuous, usually active, and frequently aggressive to other species.
A large Drongo with a half foot long tail and known for its extraordinary capability to mimic other birds. I think this is the largest Drongo found in Asia. These are very aggressive birds and they are often seen chasing other larger birds and predators away or fighting with other Drongoes.
The birds have a huge variety of calls, by some estimate 14 different calls. They also mimic other birds and I had seen that in this trip. The bird calls are also very loud and heard above all other calls in the forests. The bird uses its call often to steal food from other birds when they come to investigate the calls.
The tail is another interesting aspect of it. As the bird moves, fights, the tail with the two long streamers with feathers moves all over the place making for interesting viewing. The feathers at end are called Rackets hence giving the bird that name. There is also another species called the Lesser Racket-Tailed Drongo which I am yet to see.
While these are incredibly rare in my home state, they seemed to be fairly common in the forests of the Western Coast of India.
Many thanks in advance for your views, feedback and faves.
Clicked in the backyard. As one can see these Drongs have short legs and sit very upright while perched prominently. They are insectivorous and forage by making aerial sallies. Like other Drongos they can imitate the calls of other birds and are capable of imitating the whistling notes of a Common Iora.
A backyard shot of a Bronzed Drongo set perfectly against a jackfruit growing about 30 feet high. They are very similar to the other drongos of the region but are somewhat smaller and compact with differences in the fork depth and the patterns of gloss on their feathers.
Thamalakane Lodge, Maun, Botswana, 2017.
Many thanks for the faves and comments, they are all very much appreciated.
This is a bird in the Drongo family Dicruridae and is found widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia with several populations that vary in the shade of grey. This insectivorous bird has short legs and sits very upright while perched prominently and forages by making aerial sallies.
Just a little record of this species...he was far away on the top of a tall tree.
Sattal - Uttarakhand - India
Wikipedia: The ashy drongo (Dicrurus leucophaeus) is a species of bird in the drongo family Dicruridae. It is found widely distributed across eastern and Southeast Asia, with several populations that vary in the shade of grey, migration patterns and in the size or presence of white patches around the eye.
The adult ashy drongo is mainly dark grey, and the tail is long and deeply forked, There are a number of subspecies varying in the shade of the grey plumage. Some subspecies have white markings on the head. Young birds are dull brownish grey.
Conservation status: Least Concern
The black drongo is a small Asian passerine bird of the Drongo family. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia and accidental visitor of Japan.
Scientific name: Dicrurus macrocercus
It is an all black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm (11 in) in length.
It feeds on insects, and is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines.
The species is known for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any bird of prey that invades its territory. This behaviour earns it the informal name of king crow. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting black drongo. Previously grouped along with the African fork-tailed drongo the Asian forms are now treated as a separate species with several distinct populations.
The black drongo is listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the IUCN Red List, due to its large range and relative commonness. It has been introduced to some Pacific islands, where it has thrived and become abundant to the point of threatening and causing the extinction of native and endemic bird species there.
Source: Wikipedia
Ashy Drongo - Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam
Bird Species (# 612) that I photographed and placed on my Flickr Photostream. Overall goal is 1000.
eBird Report and listing details - macaulaylibrary.org/asset/549446781
DSC_8645DS2
I thought I'd repost the same bird as the previously posted one but in a different POV. This is to show the "ashy" underparts & also show the uniquely shaped tail feathers of the drongo.
In a sunny monsoon morning I was in our front yard garden when i attracted by a sweet call. I found this young 'Black drongo'(Dicrurus macrocercus) perched on the cable TV wires. It looked beautiful against the coloeful wall of our neighbor's house.This small passerine birds are found in much of tropical southern Asia from southeast Iran through India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, southern China and Indonesia.They are very aggrasive in nature. They often attack much larger birds like crow. They alarm other birds about predators.(Info: WIKI)
Wild South Africa
Kruger National Park
The fork-tailed drongo is known for its ability to deceptively mimic other bird alarm calls in order for a certain animal to flee the scene so it can steal their food. They are also known for their aggressive and fearless behavior, often attacking and driving away much larger animals, including birds of prey, when their nest is in danger. The fork-tailed drongo primarily eats insects, catching them in flight, but its diet also includes nectar, small vertebrates like lizards and birds, and even scavenging scraps. It is also an opportunistic kleptoparasite, known to steal food from other animals, including other birds and mammals like meerkats.
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