Mystery bird: Hair-crested drongo, Dicrurus hottentottus

This striking Asian mystery bird was originally classified into another, distantly related family (includes video)

Hair-crested drongo, Dicrurus hottentottus Linnaeus, 1766 (synonyms, Chibia hottentottus and Dicrurus bracteatus; protonym, Corvus hottentottus), also known as the spangled drongo, photographed at Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Nikon D7000.


Response: This is an adult hair-crested drongo, Dicrurus hottentottus, a small passerine that is part of a group originally placed into Lanius (shrikes and fiscals) but was removed to their own taxonomic family, Dicruridae (drongos). This family is sometimes expanded to include the Australasian fantails, monarchs and paradise flycatchers (family: Rhipiduridae).

The dicrurids are probably of Indo-Malayan origin, and colonized Africa about 15 million years ago. They only recently dispersed across Wallace's Line into Australasia, around 6 million years ago.

There are 25 species of dicrurids and they range throughout the Comoro island archipelago, Madagascar and southeast Asia and Africa. They inhabit a variety of habitat types, ranging from subtropical and tropical dry forests to subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and even dry savanna. Even though Dicruridae contains two genera, all but one species are placed into Dicrurus, leaving the New Guinea endemic, the pygmy drongo, as the sole species in its genus, Chaetorhynchus.

Drongos are small insectivorous passerines that are typically black or dark grey in colour. Some, such as our mystery bird, have iridescent plumage. Drongos have long forked tails, and some Asian species, like our bird, have elaborate tail decorations. They have short legs and sit very upright whilst perched -- like a shrike.

Unlike many of its congeners, the hair-crested drongo is found in thick forests or groves throughout New Guinea and eastern Indonesia and into southeast Asia, India, China, and the Philippines. Several subspecies are found on southwest Pacific islands.

These birds usually feed by swooping down on their prey from a conspicuous perch. They feed mainly on insects as wasps, bees and beetles, often catching them after acrobatic aerial pursuits. These birds can easily be "tamed" by throwing small bits of raw meat, which they catch in midair.

Here's a short video of an individual feeding in a tree (uploaded 28 February 2011):

Visit birdvideo123's YouTube channel [video link].

As you can see, this species has black plumage with iridescent blue and purple highlights. The tail is probably its most distinctive field mark, being long and forked with the ends curving outwards. Adults have blood-red eyes whilst young birds' eyes are brown.

The hair-crested drongo is a talented mimic and its songs are comprised of sounds heard in the area where it lives.

The Australian form of this bird may be a separate species from the Asian forms, although more DNA work is necessary to determine this.

Australians use the word "drongo" as an insult (it translates as "idiot").




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