Black Drongo
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| Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1817 |
The Black Drongo, Dicrurus macrocercus, is a small Asian bird. The drongos are passerines restricted to the Old World tropics. They were previously classed as the family Dicruridae, but that has been much enlarged to include a number of largely Australasian groups, such as the Australasian fantails and the monarchs and paradise flycatchers.
The Black Drongo is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia.
This species is usually found in open forests and similar lightly wooded habitats, including farmland and habitation. Three or four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a tree.
These are aggressive and fearless birds, 28 cm in length, and will attack much larger species if their nest or young are threatened. There are also some cases of Drongos preying on small birds.
The adult Black Drongo is mainly glossy blue-black, although the wings are duller. The tail is long and deeply forked, and there is a white spot in front of the eye. Young birds are dull dark brown.
The Black Drongo has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. It eats insects and other small animals.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Dicrurus macrocercus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6
- Ali, Sálim (1951b) White-bellied Drongo catching a bird. J. Bombay Nat.Hist. Soc. 49(4): 786.
- D'Silva, C., Sankaran, R., Mohapatra, K. K. and Chandra, J. (1990) Indian Black Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis eating a bird. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 87:301.
- Jayson, E. A., and K. K. Ramachandran. 1994. Indian Black Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis (Bechstein) feeding on a small bird. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 91 (2): 320.
- Osmaston,B. B. (1922b) Predaceous habit of the Common King Crow. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 28: 546.
- Sridharan, U. and Sivasubramanian, C. (1987) Additional records of the Black Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) feeding on birds. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 83(Suppl.): 212-213.
- Wenden,H. (1875) (Letter about Buchanga albirictus eating a lizard. Stray Feathers 3: 330.
[edit] External links
- Black Drongo videos on the Internet Bird Collection
