Animalia Life

Dicrurus paradiseus
TAXONOMY
Cuculus paradiseus Linnaeus, 1766, “Siam” = region between Ayuthia and Gulf of Thailand. About 14 subspecies, differing principally in size and presence and form of crest and tail rackets.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Large racket-tailed drongo; French: Drongo а raquettes; German: Flaggendrongo; Spanish: Drogo de Cola Raqueta Grande.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
13–14 in (33–36 cm), excluding rackets; 2.5–4.4 oz (70–125 g). Most extravagantly plumed drongo, red-eyed and all black glossed bluish to greenish, with scaly-hackled mantle, a large crest varying from forward-facing bristles to, usually, webbed plumes curving back over crown in a mane, and an extraordinary tail with two outer racket-tipped streamers that, of variable form, are often bare of webbing except for short, twisted spoon-shaped vanes at tips; sexes similar but immatures dull and brown-eyed with vestigial crests and shortened tail streamers.
DISTRIBUTION
Lowland Southeast Asia, locally to 4,900 ft (1,500 m) above sea level, from India and Sri Lanka north to south Himalayas, and east to all Southeast Asia south of south China (Yunnan, Hainan Island) and north Vietnam, and throughout Greater Sundas and archipelagos in the Bay of Bengal.
HABITAT
Open interior and edges of evergreen and deciduous forests, including rainforests, and taller close woodlands, from sea-level to 4,900 ft (1,500 m); also plantations, garden edges, and open secondary growth.
BEHAVIOR
Either solitary, in pairs or small family groups, greater rackettailed drongos are resident and territorial throughout their range. They commonly associate with foraging bands of mixed bird species, perching on exposed branches in and on the edge of forest mid-strata and sallying forth on wing. Flight is buoyant and dipping, of rapid flapping then gliding, the tail streamers making a distinctive humming. Racket-tails are extrovertly noisy, often displaying and counter-singing in small groups, and are one of the first and last birds stirring at dawn and dusk. They have a lusty repertoire of resonant warbles, whistles, and bell-like notes, mixed with typically drongo-like dry chatterings and metallic twanging; mimicry is also a feature.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Hawks, like other drongos, catching prey in mid-air or from vegetation surfaces and often carrying it in its claws to a perch for dismembering. Diet comprises mainly a range of large flying insects (termites, moths, beetles, dragonflies, ants, bees, locusts, and mantids); nectar is an important supplement.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds over summer (June–July) in northern parts of range, but earlier from winter (February) in the low tropics. Nest a deep, loose cup, 5.9 in diameter x 1.9 in deep (15 cm x 5 cm),
DISTRIBUTION
Southeast Iran and south Afghanistan through south Himalayas to all India, Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia north through central and east China to Formosa and south Manchuria, at altitudes from sea level to 6,600 ft (2,000 m); also an outlying population on Java and Bali.
HABITAT
Savannas, fields, and urban habitats outside forest, in more open environments than occupied by other drongos; over much of its range the black drongo has become a commensal of man.
BEHAVIOR
Thrives in open habitat, seeking exposed vantage perches in isolated trees, fence posts, tops of banks, buildings, and electric wires and poles, and sallying out from them on wing in buoyant, acrobatic evolutions. Tropical populations are resident but opportunistically nomadic out of breeding, and more temperate populations north through China are strongly migratory. This species is more social than other drongos, particularly out of breeding and may roost in flocks, dispersing at dawn to respective feeding territories. It is also especially pugnacious and fearless in defending feeding and breeding territory from larger, predatorial birds. Calls comprise a variety of harsh metallic chatterings; in apparent courtship, pairs or competitive trios perch close or face to face duetting or counter-singing in harsh scolding notes accompanied by violent up-and-down head-bowing and wing fluttering aerial chases.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
An opportunistic aerial insectivore, congregating loosely at concentrations of food and environmental disturbances that flush it, such as fire, grazing domestic stock, field clearing, and ploughing. Black drongos even chase other birds piratically for captured prey, and will sometimes settle on the ground to pick up ants and emerging termites. Their staple diet comprises a range of large, hard-cased field insects—locusts and crickets, beetles, and bees— and also some moths and butterflies and, infrequently, small reptiles, birds, and bats. Nectar is an important supplement, and the drongos may play a useful role in plant pollination.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds from February to August, earlier in the tropics and later in more temperate regions, coincident with peaks in insect activity. Nest a flimsy saucer of twigs, grass, and fiber, cemented and bound with cobweb to a horizontal fork at end of a branch about 13–39 ft (4–12 m) above the ground, commonly in an isolated tree with clear view of surroundings. Eggs, in clutches of 2–5, are 0.8–1.1 x 0.7–0.8 in (20–28 x 18–20 mm), whitish to pinkish cream and spotted and blotched with reddish brown and black. Nests are often parasitized by cuckoos, e.g., Surniculus lugubris and Eudynamys scolopacea.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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