View allAll Photos Tagged drongo
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.
A black drongo with a backdrop of a small controlled fire. These small fires make the insects hidden within the bushes to fly out in the open, providing an excellent opportunity to these drongos who feed on them. So, whenever there is such a fire, it's common to see a large flock of drongos around.
215) Drongo Cuckoo
Square-Tailed Drongo-Cuckoo, Surniculus lugubris, Burung Hamba Kera
Found in Southeast Asia and Southern India. The calls are series of piercing sharp whistles rising in pitch but shrill and choppily delivered. It can be easily distinguished by its straight beak and the white barred vent and outer undertail, and the tail only notched with slightly flared tips. In flight a white wing-stripe is visible from below. It is a brood parasite on small babblers. It is not known how or whether the drongo-like appearance benefits this species but it is suspected that it aids in brood-parasitism just as hawk-cuckoos appear like hawks.
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 word drongo is part of the Australian vernacular, meaning an incompetent fool.
And yet the Spangled Drongo photographed above is anything but that. A handsome bird with a bright red eye, sharp beak and a forked tail. The drongo's call is a metallic sound, easy to identify.
An adult bird perched high in a tree waiting for its quarry (insects) to fly by before swooping down on them.
Image taken in the Mara North Conservancy, Masai Mara, Kenya.
Many thanks to everyone that views and comments on my images - very much appreciated.
Drongos eat large insects such as grasshoppers and mantises which they catch using the perch-pounce technique. They are very vocal with impressive mimicry.
Sadly, a stupid person is referred to as a drongo in the Australian vernacular. This usage dates back to about a 100 years ago when an ill-fate racehorse, named after the bird, kept coming last.
If you’re called a ‘bloody drongo’ in the land down under, they don’t mean you’re an injured bird.
It was quite difficult to set focus on this greater racket-tailed drongo, which sat upon a lofty branch, some 70-80 ft high...loved taking the shot...taken in Chidiyatapu nature park in Andaman Islands, India
a common forest species only found on Negros and Panay Islands above 200m.
Twin Lakes Natural Park, Negros Island, Philippines
Fork-tailed Drongo, Damaraland - Namibia
The Fork-tailed Drongo is 23-26 cm in length, mostly insectivorous, found from the Sahel to South Africa that lives in woodlands and savanna.
From afar, appears entirely black, but up close, its feathers show a glossy metallic sheen of blue or blue-green that shines in the sun.
The Fork-tailed Drongo is known for its ability to mimic other bird alarm calls.
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 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. Wiki
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
A few Black Drongos were having a disagreement with their cousins, the Ashy Drongos. As the interesting action ensued I got the camera hoping to get some good shots. This one was among the best. This songbird is often seen in open areas such as farmland, forest edge, meadows, wetlands, and fields. Like most Drongos, they are a pugnacious species, frequently chasing away larger birds with repeated dives and harsh chattering calls. These noisy birds are skilled mimics of other species that are known to deliver a wide range of pleasant fluty calls, harsh chattering, nasal notes, and high sharp whistles.
Small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. Previously, it was seen as a subspecies (Dicrurus adsimilis macrocercus) of the African Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), but is now recognized as a full species.
The species is famous for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any birds of prey that invades its territory. Smaller birds often nest in the well guarded vicinity of a nesting Black Drongo.
Ranthambore National Park. India
Fork-tailed Drongo, Khorixas - Namibia
The Fork-tailed Drongo is 23-26 cm in length, mostly insectivorous, found from the Sahel to South Africa that lives in woodlands and savanna.
From afar, appears entirely black, but up close, its feathers show a glossy metallic sheen of blue or blue-green that shines in the sun.
The Fork-tailed Drongo is known for its ability to mimic other bird alarm calls.
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.