View source for Drongo

{{Short description|Family of birds}}
{{Redirect|Drongos|the band|The Drongos}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Drongo
| image = Dicrurus hottentottus-20030823.jpg
| image_caption = [[Hair-crested drongo]] (''D. hottentottus striatus'')
| display_parents = 2
| parent_authority = [[Nicholas Aylward Vigors|Vigors]], 1825
| taxon = Dicrurus
| authority = [[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1816
| type_species= ''Corvus balicassius'' ([[Balicassiao]])
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766
}}
{{Cladogram| title=''Dicrurus'' phylogeny
| caption=Cladogram based on a study by Eric Pasquet and colleagues published in 2007.<ref name=pasquet/>
| align=right
| clades={{clade|style=font-size:75%;line-height:75%
 |label1=Dicruridae
 |1={{clade
  |1=aeneus
  |label2=
  |2={{clade
   |label1=
   |1={{clade
    |label1=
    |1={{clade
     |1=paradiseus
     |2=annectens
    }}
    |label2=
    |2={{clade
     |label1=
     |1={{clade
      |1=megarhynchus
      |2=bracteatus
     }}
     |label2=
     |2={{clade
      |1=hottentotus
      |2=balicassius
     }}
    }}
   }}
   |2=remifer
  }}
  |label3=
  |3={{clade
   |label1=
   |1={{clade
    |label1=
    |1={{clade
     |1=waldenii
     |label2=
     |2={{clade
      |1=aldabranus
      |2=forficatus
     }}
    }}
    |label2=
    |2={{clade
     |label1=
     |1={{clade
      |label1=
      |1={{clade
       |1=adsimilis
       |2=macrocercus
      }}
      |2=modestus
     }}
     |label2=
     |2={{clade
      |1=fuscipennis
     }}
    }}
    |label3=
    |3={{clade
     |1=leucophaeus
    }}
   }}
   |label2=
   |2={{clade
    |1=atripennis
    |2=ludwigii
   }}
  }}
 }}
}}
}}

A '''drongo''' is a member of the family '''Dicruridae''' of [[passerine]] birds of the [[Old World]] tropics. The 28 species in the family are placed in a single [[genus]], '''''Dicrurus'''''.

Drongos are mostly black or dark grey, short-legged birds, with an upright stance when perched. They have forked tails and some have elaborate tail decorations. They feed on [[insects]] and small [[bird]]s, which they catch in flight or on the ground. Some species are accomplished mimics and have a variety of alarm calls, to which other birds and animals often respond. They are known to utter fake alarm calls that scare other animals off food, which the drongo then claims.

==Taxonomy==
The genus ''Dicrurus'' was introduced by French ornithologist [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]] for the drongos in 1816.<ref>{{cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | title=Analyse d'Une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire | publisher=Deterville/self | year=1816 | location=Paris | page=41 | language=fr| url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f47.image }}</ref> The [[type species]] was subsequently designated as the [[balicassiao]] (''Dicrurus balicassius'') by English zoologist [[George Robert Gray]] in 1841.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gray | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1841 | title=A List of the Genera of Birds : with their Synonyma and an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus | edition=2nd | place=London | publisher= R. and J.E. Taylor | page=47 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14050278 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr  | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr. | year=1962 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=15 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=138 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14485511 }}</ref> The name of the genus combines the [[Ancient Greek]] words ''dikros'' "forked" and ''oura'' "tail".<ref name=hbwkey>{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/key-to-scientific-names-in-ornithology?name=Dicrurus | publisher=Lynx Edicions | access-date=29 March 2018 }}</ref> "Drongo" is originally from the indigenous language of [[Madagascar]], where it refers to the [[crested drongo]]; it is now used for all members of the family.<ref name="EoB">{{cite book |author=Lindsey, Terence |year=1991 |editor=Forshaw, Joseph |title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds |location=London |publisher=Merehurst Press |pages=223–224 |isbn=1-85391-186-0}}</ref>

This family now includes only the genus ''Dicrurus'', although Christidis and Boles (2007) expanded the family to include the subfamilies Rhipidurinae ([[fantail|Australasian fantails]]), Monarchinae ([[Monarchini|monarch and paradise flycatchers]]), and Grallininae (magpie larks).<ref>Christidis, Les; Walter Boles (2008). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Systematics_and_Taxonomy_of_Australian_B/SFP9P1i-PoEC?hl=en&gbpv=0 ''Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds'']. Collingwood, Vic., Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p. 174. {{ISBN|978-0643065116}}. {{OCLC|8517604066}}.</ref>

The family was formerly treated as having two genera, ''Chaetorhynchus'' and ''Dicrurus''. The genus ''Chaetorhynchus'' contains a single species, the [[New Guinea]]–endemic ''[[Drongo fantail|C. papuensis]]''. On the basis of both morphological and genetic differences, it is now placed with the fantails ([[Rhipiduridae]]) and renamed from the pygmy drongo to the drongo fantail.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Irested |first1=Martin |last2=Fuchs |first2=J |last3=Jønsson |first3=KA |last4=Ohlson |first4=JI |last5=Pasquet |first5=E |first6=Per G.P. |last6=Ericson |year=2009 |title=The Systematic Affinity of the Enigmatic ''Lamprolia Victoriae'' (Aves: Passeriformes)—an Example of Avian Dispersal Between New Guinea and Fiji Over Miocene Intermittent Land Bridges? |url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.7d9d550411abf68c801800012645/Irestedt%2Bet%2Bal%2BLamprolia.pdf |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=1218–1222 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2008.05.038 |pmid=18620871}}</ref>

The genus ''Dicrurus'' contains 28 species:<ref name=ioc>{{Cite web |editor1-last=Gill |editor1-first=Frank |editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) |editor2-last=Donsker |editor2-first=David |year=2018 |title=Orioles, Drongos, Fantails |work=World Bird List Version 8.1 |url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/orioles/ |publisher=International Ornithologists' Union |access-date=29 March 2018}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution
|-
|[[File:Square-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus ludwigii) (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Square-tailed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus ludwigii'' ||southern Africa. 
|-
|[[File:SharpesDrongo.jpg|120px]]|| [[Sharpe's drongo]] || ''Dicrurus sharpei''  ||southern South Sudan and western Kenya to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Nigeria 
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus atripennis 111213.jpg|120px]] || [[Shining drongo]] || ''Dicrurus atripennis'' || Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
|-
|[[File:Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) 2.jpg|120px]] || [[Fork-tailed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus adsimilis'' ||Gabon, Congo Republic, DRC, Angola, northwestern Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and northwestern South Africa
|-
|[[File:Velvet-mantled Drongo from Canopy Walkway - Kakum NP - Ghana 14 S4E1498 (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Velvet-mantled drongo]] || ''Dicrurus modestus'' ||Nigeria and Cameroon to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. 
|-
| || [[Grande Comore drongo]] || ''Dicrurus fuscipennis'' ||Comoros. 
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus aldabranus 59442457 (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Aldabra drongo]] || ''Dicrurus aldabranus'' ||Seychelles
|-
|[[File:Crested Drongo, Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar.jpg|120px]] || [[Crested drongo]] || ''Dicrurus forficatus'' ||Madagascar and Comoros
|-
| || [[Mayotte drongo]] || ''Dicrurus waldenii'' || Mayotte. 
|-
|[[File:Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus (Vieillot, 1817) (7005202663).jpg|120px]] || [[Black drongo]] || ''Dicrurus macrocercus'' || Iran through Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia and accidental visitor of Japan
|-
|[[File:Ashy drongo ,Dicrurus leucophaeus.jpg|120px]] || [[Ashy drongo]] || ''Dicrurus leucophaeus'' ||eastern Afghanistan east to southern China, Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan (particularly Okinawa) and Indonesia.
|-
|[[File:Thimindu White bellied Drongo 1.jpg|120px]] || [[White-bellied drongo]] || ''Dicrurus caerulescens'' ||India and Sri Lanka.
|-
|[[File:Crow-billed Drongo (Dicrurus annectans) - Flickr - Lip Kee (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Crow-billed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus annectens'' || Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
|-
|[[File:Bronzed Drongo I IMG 1677.jpg|120px]] || [[Bronzed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus aeneus'' ||western Uttaranchal eastwards into Indochina and Hainan, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and northern Borneo
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus remifer 180352515.jpg|120px]]|| [[Lesser racket-tailed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus remifer'' || Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus balicassius.jpg|120px]] || [[Balicassiao]] || ''Dicrurus balicassius'' || Philippines. 
|-
| || [[Short-tailed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus striatus'' || Philippines. 
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus hottentottus-20030823.jpg|120px]] || [[Hair-crested drongo]] || ''Dicrurus hottentottus'' || Bangladesh, India, and Bhutan through Indochina to China, Indonesia, and Brunei.
|-
| || [[Tablas drongo]] || ''Dicrurus menagei''  || Philippines. 
|-
| || [[Palawan drongo]] || ''Dicrurus palawanensis''  || Palawan. 
|-
| || [[Sumatran drongo]] || ''Dicrurus sumatranus'' || Sumatra in Indonesia.
|-
|[[File:Wallacean Drongo (Dicrurus densus) (8074119894) (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Wallacean drongo]] || ''Dicrurus densus'' || Indonesia and East Timor.
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus montanus 64408649.jpg|120px]] || [[Sulawesi drongo]] || ''Dicrurus montanus'' ||Sulawesi in Indonesia. 
|-
|[[File:Dicrurus bracteatus - Wonga.jpg|120px]] || [[Spangled drongo]] || ''Dicrurus bracteatus'' ||Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia
|-
| || [[Paradise drongo]] || ''Dicrurus megarhynchus'' ||New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. 
|-
|[[File:Andaman Drongo (Dicrurus andamanensis) in tree (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Andaman drongo]] || ''Dicrurus andamanensis'' || Andaman Islands 
|-
|[[File:Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Dicrurus paradiseus (Linnaeus, 1766) (16169002507).jpg|120px]] || [[Greater racket-tailed drongo]] || ''Dicrurus paradiseus'' ||India to Borneo and Java
|-
|[[File:Sri Lanka drongo - Sri Lanka - 01.jpg|120px]] || [[Sri Lanka drongo]] || ''Dicrurus lophorinus'' ||Sri Lanka. 
|-
|}

The family Dicruridae is most likely of Indo-Malayan origin, with a colonization of Africa about 15 million years ago (Mya). Dispersal across the [[Wallace Line]] into Australasia is estimated to have been more recent, around 6 Mya.<ref name=pasquet>{{cite journal | last1 = Pasquet | first1 = Eric | last2 = Pons | first2 = Jean-Marc | last3 = Fuchs | first3 = Jerome | last4 = Cruaud | first4 = Corinne | last5 = Bretagnolle | first5 = Vincent | date =  October 2008 | title = Evolutionary history and biogeography of the drongos (Dicruridae), a tropical Old World clade of corvoid passerines | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 45 | issue = 1| pages = 158–167 | bibcode = 2007MolPE..45..158P | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2007.03.010| pmid = 17468015}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
[[File:Bronzed Drongo I IMG 1682.jpg|thumb|[[Bronzed drongo]] (''Dicrurus aeneus'') in India]]

These [[insectivorous]] birds are usually found in open forests or bush. Most are black or dark grey in colour, sometimes with metallic tints. They have long, forked tails; some Asian species have elaborate tail decorations. They have short legs and sit very upright whilst perched, like a [[shrike]]. They flycatch or take prey from the ground. Some drongos<!--5? per wiki articles on 27 Sep 2013-->, especially the greater racket-tailed drongo, are noted for their ability to mimic other birds and even mammals.

Two to four [[Egg (biology)|egg]]s are laid in a nest high in a tree. Despite their small size, they are aggressive and fearless, and will attack much larger species if their nests or young are threatened.

Several species of animals and birds respond to drongos' alarm calls, which often warn of the presence of a [[predator]]. [[Fork-tailed drongos]] in the [[Kalahari Desert]] use alarm calls in the absence of a predator to cause animals to flee and abandon food, which they eat, getting up to 23% of their food this way. They not only use their own alarm calls, but also imitate those of many species, either their victim's or that of another species to which  the victim responds. If the call of one species is not effective, perhaps because of habituation, the drongo may try another; 51 different calls are known to be imitated. In one test on [[Southern pied babbler|pied babblers]], the babbler ignored an alarm call repeated three times when no danger was present, but continued to respond to different calls. Researchers have considered the possibility that these drongos possess [[theory of mind]], not fully shown in any animal other than humans.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1249723 | pmid=24786078 | title=Deception by flexible alarm mimicry in an African bird | journal=Science | date=2014 | volume=344 | issue=6183 | pages=513–516 | first=T.P. | last=Flower | bibcode=2014Sci...344..513F }}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140502221033/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140501-drongo-kalahari-desert-meerkat-mimicry-science/ National Geographic: African Bird Shouts False Alarms to Deceive and Steal, Study Shows Drongos in the Kalahari are masters of deception, 1 May 2014]</ref><ref name="mimicking">{{ cite journal | last=Flower | first=T. | year=2010 | title=Fork-tailed drongos use deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B | volume=278 | issue=1711 | pages=1548–1555 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1932 | pmid=21047861 | doi-access=free | pmc=3081750 }}</ref>

==Insult==
The word "drongo" is used in [[Australian English]] as a mild form of insult meaning "idiot" or "stupid fellow". This usage derives from an Australian racehorse of the same name (apparently after the [[spangled drongo]], ''D. bracteatus'') in the 1920s that never won despite many [[Glossary of Australian and New Zealand punting#P|place]]s. The word also has been frequently used among friends and can be used in a casual or serious tone.<ref name = "Cassell"/><ref>{{ cite book | last=Wannan | first=Bill | year=1979 | orig-year=1970 | chapter=''Drongo'' | title=Australian Folklore | publisher=Lansdowne Press | isbn=0-7018-1309-1 | page=200}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/drongo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208033852/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/drongo |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 8, 2017 |title=Drongo |work=Oxford Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129728613 |title=Career of Drongo |newspaper=[[The News (Adelaide)]] |volume=IV |issue=568 |location=South Australia |date=20 May 1925 |access-date=14 February 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160" style="font-size:100%; line-height:130%">
Greater-racket-tailed-drongo-khao-yai.webm|A [[greater racket-tailed drongo]] preening at [[Khao Yai National Park]], Thailand
A flying greater racket-tailed drongo.jpg|A greater racket-tailed drongo visiting ''[[Erythrina]]'' flowers at [[Satchari National Park]] in Bangladesh
Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo at nest - Kang Kra Chan - Thailand S4E4944 (14278976543) (2).jpg|A [[lesser racket-tailed drongo]] incubating at [[Kaeng Krachan National Park]] in Thailand
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist | refs =
<ref name = "Cassell">{{cite book | title = Cassell's Dictionary of Slang | first = Jonathon | last = Green | year = 2005 | location = London, UK | publisher = Orion Publishing Group | page = 450 | isbn = 978-0-304-36636-1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5GpLcC4a5fAC&pg=PA450}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal | last=Clancey | first=P.A. | year=1976 | title=Miscellaneous taxonomic notes on African birds XLIV | journal=Durban Museum Novitates | volume=11 | issue=4 | pages=85–105 [88–101] | url=https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/AJA0012723X_2233 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029080459/https://journals.co.za/content/admn/11/4/AJA0012723X_2233 | archive-date=29 October 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Vaurie | first=C. | year=1949|title= A revision of the bird family Dicruridae|journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume= 93|pages=203–342 |hdl=2246/1240}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|drongo}}
* [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/drongos-dicruridae Drongo videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

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[[Category:Drongos|*]]
[[Category:Australian slang]]