Fork-tailed Drongo

The Fork-tailed Drongo is a bold, all-black passerine found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. It is best known for its acrobatic flight, aggressive temperament, and remarkable ability to mimic the alarm calls of other animals to scare them away from food — a well-studied example of vocal deception in birds.

Appearance

• Entirely glossy black plumage with a blue-green sheen in good light
• Bright red eyes
• A long, deeply forked "fish-tail" shape, most obvious in flight
• Sexes look alike

Key field marks

• All-black body with a glossy sheen
• Deeply forked tail, distinctly notched at the tip
• Red eye visible at close range
• Often perches upright on wires, fence posts, or bare branches

Similar species

• Square-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus ludwigii) is smaller with a much shallower tail fork and is found in forest rather than open savanna
• Black cuckooshrikes and black flycatchers lack the strongly forked tail and red eye
• Behavior is a strong clue: drongos sally out from perches in swift, twisting flight to catch flying insects

Range

Found across most of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia and south through East and southern Africa.

Habitat

Common in open savanna, woodland edge, farmland, and gardens; generally avoids dense forest interior. It is a familiar bird perched on fences and roadside wires.

Migration

Largely resident, though some local and altitudinal movements occur in response to food availability.

Voice

A varied repertoire of harsh, grating, and metallic notes, mixed with excellent mimicry of other birds and even mammal alarm calls, such as those of meerkats and other songbird species.

Feeding

Hunts mainly by aerial sallying, darting out from a perch to snatch flying insects; also known for kleptoparasitism, giving false alarm calls that mimic those of other species to make them drop or abandon food, which the drongo then steals.

Nesting and breeding

Builds a shallow cup nest of twigs bound with spider web, slung in a tree fork; both parents are highly aggressive in nest defense and will mob much larger birds, including raptors.