Mayotte drongo

Dicrurus waldenii

Photo by Roger le Guen (Flickr)

Common name:
Mayotte drongo (en); drongo-de-Mayotte (pt); drongo de Mayotte (fr); drongo de la Mayotte (es); Mayottedrongo (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Dicruridae

Range:
This species is endemic to the island of Mayotte in the Comoro island group, noth of Madagascar. There it occurs sparsely and locally, especially in the northern and western parts of the island.

Size:
These birds are 28-38 cm long.

Habitat:
The Mayotte drongo is mostly found along the edges of rainforests, also using mixed secondary forests, moist scrublands, mangroves, plantations and orchards. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 200 m.

Diet:
They sally out from a perch to take to hunt insects, particularly cicadas, but also bugs, butter flies, caterpillars, and possibly also small vertebrates.

Breeding:
The Mayotte drongo breeds in September-February. The nest is a solid cup made of intertwined plant fibres, and placed in a fork in a tree. The female lays 1-3 eggs, which are incubated for 19-21 days. The chicks fledge 17-25 days after hatching but only become fully independent 1 month later and remain with the parents until the next breeding season. Each pair raises a single brood per season.

Consevation:
IUCN status - VU (Vulnerable)
This species has a small breeding range and the global population is estimated at 5.000 individuals. Although they are able to survive in degraded habitats, these support lower densities than the natural rainforests, so the population is suspected to be declining due to deforestation. In the second half of the 20th century roughly 25% of Mayotte's forests were cleared for agriculture and timber, while the growing human population is increasingly encroaching the existing forests. A network of reserves now covers all remaining natural forests, but these do not have formal protection under French law. Other threats include the loss of mangroves due to the heavy sediment loads from the deforested interior, frequent devastating cyclones, and the potential introduction of new nest predators.

Greater racket-tailed drongo

Dicrurus paradiseus

Photo by Kai Hendry (Wikipedia)

Common name:
greater racket-tailed drongo (en); drongo-de-raquetes-grande (pt); drongo à raquettes (fr); drongo de raquetas grande (es); flaggendrongo (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Dicruridae

Range:
This species is found in India and Nepal, through Bangladesh and Indochina and into Indonesia.


Size
These birds are 31-36 cm long and weigh 70-125 g.

Habitat:
The greater racket-tailed drongo is found in tropical moist forests, swamp forests, mangroves and also in degraded patches of former forests and plantations.

Diet:
They have a varied diet, including insects such as ants, bees, beetles, dragonflies, locusts, mantids, moths and termites, but also nectar and fruits. They catch insects either in flight or by pounding on them from the air.

Breeding:
These birds breed in February-August. The nest is saucer-shaped and built by both sexes. It is made of intricately intertwined roots and leaves, lined with finer materials and placed in a fork in a tree. The female lays 3-4 creamy-white eggs with reddish-brown blotches, which are incubated by both sexes for 15-17 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 17-28 days after hatching, but oonly become fully independent 4-6 weeks later.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
The greater racket-tailed drongo has a very large breeding range and is described as locally common to uncommon. There is no information regarding population trends, but they are negatively affected by ongoing habitats loss within their range, namely in Java and Bali.

Fork-tailed drongo

Dicrurus adsimilis

Photo by Dirk Daniels (Wikipedia)

Common name:
fork-tailed drongo (en); drongo-de-cauda-furcada (pt); drongo brillant (fr); drongo ahorquillado (es); trauerdrongo (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Dicruridae

Range:
This species is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, only being absent from extremely arid areas.

Size:
These birds are 25 cm long and weigh 40-50 g.

Habitat:
Fork-tailed drongos are mostly found in dry savannas and riverine woodlands, but also in dry grasslands with scattered trees, forest edges, alien tree plantations, farmland, gardens and parks. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.200 m.

Diet:
They mostly eat insects, namely honey bees, paper wasps, larval beetles, caterpillars, ticks and termites, but also small lizards, fishes, eggs, chicks and adult birds, and occasionally the nectar of Aloe plants.

Breeding:
Fork-tailed drongos breed in August-January. The nest is a small cup made of twigs, leaf petioles and tendrils, strongly bound together with spider web strands. It is usually placed like a hammock between the branches of a tree fork, 4-6 m above ground. There the female lays 2-5 eggs which are incubated by both sexes for 15-18 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 16-22 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and, although the global population size has not been quantified, it is believed to be large as the species is described as common in at least parts of its range. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Black drongo

Dicrurus macrocercus

Photo by Robin Newlin (Birds Korea)

Common name:

black drongo (en); drongo-real (pt); drongo royal (fr); drongo real (es); königsdrongo (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Dicruridae

Range:

This Asian species is found in much of tropical southern Asia, from south-west Iran, through India and Sri Lanka and east to southern China and Indonesia.

Size:

Black drongos are 26-32 cm long and weigh 40-60 g.

Habitat:

They are mostly found in open country, namely in savanna, agricultural fields and urban habitats.

Diet:

These birds are mostly aerial predators of insects but can also glean from the ground or off the vegetation. They tale a variety of insects including grasshoppers, cicadas, termites, wasps, bees, ants, moths, beetles and dragonflies. They occasionally hunt small birds, reptiles, bats and even fish and are also known to visit flowers of trees such as Erythrina and Bombax for nectar.

Breeding:

They mostly breed in February-August. The nest is a cup made with a thin layer of sticks placed in the fork of branch, and is built by both the male and female. The female lays 3-4 pale cream to red eggs which are incubated by both parents for 14-15 days. The chicks fledge 16-17 days after hatching , but continue to be fed and protected by the parents for another months.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and, although the global population size has not been quantified, the species is described as generally common throughout the Indian Subcontinent, although uncommon in Bhutan. This species is not considered threatened at present.