Birds · Passeriformes · Dicruridae
Fork-tailed Drongo
Dicrurus adsimilis
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary
The fork-tailed drongo is a glossy black bird with red eyes and a deeply forked tail, very common in the African savannahs. It catches insects in flight from a perch and is notably aggressive: it mobs raptors far larger than itself. Its most celebrated behaviour is a form of deliberate deception that has become a classic case study in animal cognition.
Weight
40 g – 55 g
Size
23 cm – 26 cm
Lifespan
10 years
Diet
Insectivore
Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
In pairs
Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.
Sighting difficulty
Easy
Fun facts
- It lies to steal food: it gives false predator alarms, including imitations of the alarm calls of meerkats and of other birds, so that they abandon their prey and it can take it.
- It switches strategies to keep the deception working: if one kind of false alarm stops having an effect, it changes to another species' call, which shows that it adjusts its tactics to the victim's response.
- Most of the time, however, its alarms are genuine, and the meerkats and other animals heed them precisely because the drongo is reliable eighty per cent of the time.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
- Habitat & environment
- Wooded savannah, open woodland, field edges and gardens of sub-Saharan Africa
- Sexual maturity
- 12 months
- Gestation / incubation
- 16 days of incubation
- Litter / clutch size
- 3 eggs
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicrurus_adsimilis
Where to find it
See its range on the interactive mapWhere to watch it
Parques y spots de buceo donde se ha documentado esta especie — se muestran 10 de 30 documentados.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Fork-tailed Drongo — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Rufous Elephant Shrew
Elephantulus rufescens
Helmeted Guineafowl
Numida meleagris
Violet Turaco
Musophaga violacea
Village Weaver
Ploceus cucullatus
Malachite Sunbird
Nectarinia famosa
Narina Trogon
Apaloderma narina
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