Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) lives in open savanna across Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia. It feeds on insects and spiders. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Black Drongo
- At just 28 cm (11 in) long, the black drongo still dares to dive-bomb crows and birds of prey that wander into its territory, a habit that earned it the nickname "king crow." This fearless aggression lets it dominate open fields and power lines, driving away larger predators and securing food for itself and nearby smaller birds that nest close by.
- When black drongos were released on the Pacific island of Rota just before World II, they quickly spread to nearby Guam in the 1950s and by 1967 ranked fourth in roadside bird counts, today becoming the island's most abundant bird. Their sheer numbers have been linked to the decline of endemic species like the Rota bridled white-eye and the Guam flycatcher.
- A black drongo's breeding territory can be as tiny as 0.003 km² (0.3 ha) and as large as 0.012 km² (1.2 ha), yet within that patch the pair builds a cup nest in a forked branch in just one week. They lay three, sometimes four, creamy-spotted eggs that are 26 mm long and 19 mm wide, incubate them for 14-15 days, and the hatchlings stay in the nest for five days before becoming thermally independent.
- Black drongos can gather up to 35 individuals at a ploughed field, where they swoop over freshly turned soil to snap up exposed caterpillars and beetle grubs. They also hover near fires that flush insects from scrub, and even follow cattle egrets and common mynas. By joining mixed-species foraging flocks, drongos boost their own catch rate, illustrating a clever opportunistic feeding strategy.
- Black drongos achieve a breeding success rate of just 44 %, with most chick deaths traced to a shortage of insects that hinges on rainfall. When rain is scarce, parents cannot find enough protein-rich prey, leading to lower fledgling survival.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeSub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia
HabitatOpen savanna
DietInsects and spiders
About the Black Drongo
In the scorching savannas and woodlands, the black drongo reigns as a monarch of the skies, its sleek, iridescent plumage glimmering like polished onyx as it slices through the air with effortless precision. With a flick of its forked tail, it darts between the trees, its sharp, inquisitive eyes scanning the underbrush for unsuspecting insects to snatch from the air. As it alights upon a branch, its melodic, whistled call rings out, a clarion declaration of its dominion over this sun-baked realm.
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