Drongo (family Dicruridae)

BirdOld WorldMimic

Overview

Drongos (family Dicruridae) are glossy black, medium-sized birds of the warmer parts of Africa, Asia, and Australasia, typically with a distinctive forked or curled tail and bold, fearless personalities. The black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus), shown here, is a familiar bird of open farmland across Asia, while the crested and racket-tailed drongos sport spectacular tail ornaments. Drongos are agile fliers and aggressive aerial insect-hunters.

They are famous for two things: ferociously defending their nests — mobbing crows, hawks, and even much larger animals — and a remarkable cleverness, as some drongos imitate the alarm calls of other animals to frighten them off freshly caught food, then swoop in to steal it.

Note: “drongo” covers a family of species; details here use the black drongo as a reference. Treat general statements as approximate and verify against authoritative sources.

Habitat & Range

Drongos live across sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and into Australasia, in open woodland, savanna, forest edge, farmland, and gardens. Many favour open country with scattered trees, fences, or wires to perch on and watch for insects, while forest species keep to the trees; the adaptable black drongo is a common sight over fields and pastures.

Diet

Drongos are mainly insectivores, catching flying insects — beetles, grasshoppers, dragonflies, bees, wasps, and more — in swift aerial sallies from a perch, and they also take some small vertebrates and, occasionally, nectar. Many follow grazing animals or join other birds to snap up insects flushed from the grass, and they readily exploit insects driven out by fires.

Behavior

Drongos are bold, alert, and pugnacious. They perch conspicuously and sally out to seize insects in flight, and they vigorously defend their nests, fearlessly mobbing crows, raptors, and intruders far larger than themselves — a trait that makes them useful “protectors” whose nesting areas other birds sometimes shelter near. Most remarkable is their deception: studies of the fork-tailed drongo in Africa show that it gives true alarm calls to warn of real danger, but also sometimes mimics the alarm calls of other species (and even other birds' calls) as a false alarm, startling animals like meerkats into dropping or fleeing their food, which the drongo then snatches. They are accomplished vocal mimics in general.

Human Interaction & Conservation

Drongos are familiar and often welcome birds around farmland, where they help control insect pests, and their boldness and antics make them a favourite of birdwatchers. Many species are common and adaptable, thriving in human-altered landscapes, though some island or restricted-range species are of conservation concern. They are harmless to people. Consult the IUCN Red List for species-specific status.

More photos of the drongo