Crested Drongo
Dicrurus forficatus
Bold black fork-tailed bird with a towering crest. Juveniles have some pale fringes and a reduced crest, but still show the forked tail. Found in all types of forest at low and middle elevations, and less commonly in scrub, in villages, in plantations, and at high elevation. Perches prominently in the open, swooping out to catch insects on the wing. Often joins mixed feeding flocks with other birds. Fearless bird that doesn’t hesitate to mob mammalian predators or raptors. Song is a repeated sequence of whistles, creaks, and rasps. Forked tail and crest make it unmistakable within its range.
Identification
The adult male and female are almost entirely black, with a blue-green sheen. The distinctive crest consists of elongated feathers on the forehead. The forked tail is also distinctive of the adult birds. D. f. potior is larger and has broader tail feathers.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the crested drongo in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name Le grand gobe-mouche noir hupé de Madagascar and the Latin Muscicapa Madagascariensis nigra major cristata. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the crested drongo. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius forficatus and cited Brisson's work. The specific name forficatus is Neo-Latin for "scissor-shaped". This species is now placed in the genus Dicrurus that was introduced by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.<p>Two subspecies are recognised:<p>The common name of drongo, now applied to all members of the family Dicruridae, was originally a Malagasy word from the Betsimisaraka dialect; more commonly it is called railovy in Malagasy.
- Scientific name
- Dicrurus forficatus
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Dicruridae
- Genus
- Dicrurus
Range and habitat
The nominated race is endemic to Madagascar, and found throughout the island, and some of the larger inshore islands including Nosy-Bé. The Dicrurus forficatus potior subspecies on only found on the Comoro Islands.<p>Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and dry savanna, typically below 1,000 meters.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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