Drongos (Dicruridae)
Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) - HBW 14, p. 223
French: Drongo brillant
German: Trauerdrongo
Spanish: Drongo Ahorquillado
Other common names: African Drongo
Taxonomy: Corvus adsimilis Bechstein, 1794, Duiwenhok River, southern Cape, South Africa.
Forms a superspecies with D. macrocercus and often treated as conspecific, but differs slightly in plumage and significantly in proportions and voice; close relationship between the two supported by recent DNA studies. Previously, D. fuscipennis, D. modestus, D. waldenii, D. forficatus and D. aldabranus thought to be part of same superspecies, but morphological and genetic differentiation considered too great to validate such a relationship. Race divaricatus intergrades with fugax in N Uganda and Kenya. Four subspecies recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution:
- divaricatus (M. H. C. Lichtenstein, 1823) - SW Mauritania, Senegambia and Guinea E in savanna belt to N Cameroon, S Chad, C & S Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, S to Central African Republic, N DRCongo, N Uganda and N Kenya.
- apivorus Clancey, 1976 - SE Gabon and adjacent PRCongo, WC & S DRCongo, Angola, N & W Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and N South Africa (N Northern Cape E to N Limpopo).
- fugax W. K. H. Peters, 1868 - Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania (including Zanzibar) S to E Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, E Botswana, NE South Africa (E Limpopo S to NE KwaZulu-Natal) and E Swaziland.
- adsimilis (Bechstein, 1794) - W Swaziland, Lesotho lowlands, and E & S South Africa (S Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal S to SW Western Cape).
- Least Concern Enlarge map
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A bird perched in a tree. Locality Lake Langano, Oromia Region, Ethiopia (ssp divaricatus)
Josep del Hoyo 30 November 2005 7 years ago 31 sec 4.7 -
A close-up of a bird, scratching its head and calling. Locality Lake Langano, Oromia Region, Ethiopia (ssp divaricatus)
Josep del Hoyo 30 November 2005 7 years ago 39 sec 4.7 -
perching and flying Locality Soroti, Uganda (ssp fugax)
Daniêl Jimenez 6 October 2010 2 years ago 24 sec 4.7 -
A dorsal view of a bird on a tree top, preening Locality Mburo Lake National Park, Uganda (ssp fugax)
Josep del Hoyo 13 September 2006 5 years ago 19 sec 4.3 -
A bird perched on a broken branch, looking around for potential prey and eventually flying away. Locality West Usambara, Usambara Mountains, Tanzania (ssp If Fork-tailed: fugax)
Pieter de Groot Boersma 20 February 2012 36 weeks ago 21 sec 4.3 -
Several birds feeding Locality Ndhovu Lodge, Caprivi Region, Namibia (ssp apivorus)
Josep del Hoyo 15 July 1998 10 years ago 24 sec 4.2
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A juvenile specimen
Locality Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Marco Valentini 30 January 2012 1 year ago 4.2 -
Juvenile perched
Locality Wilderness, Western Cape Province, South Africa
Chris and Megan Perkins 17 March 2009 4 years ago 4 -
A bird perched on a branch, close to an elephant.
Locality Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania (ssp fugax)
Brian J. Coates 33 weeks ago 3.8 -
An abundant bird in Kruger
Locality Kruger National Park, South Africa
Guy Poisson 29 October 2012 21 weeks ago 3.8 -
Resting on a tree.
Locality Dikhololo Game Reserve, North West Province, South Africa
Robert Erasmus 25 February 2010 2 years ago 3.8 -
Specimen just after capture of a wasp
Locality Kruger National Park, South Africa (ssp adsimilis)
Johannes Pfleiderer 25 September 2011 1 year ago 3.7
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Calls & song. Okakuejo Waterhole. 5:51am. Locality Etosha National Park, Kunene Region, Namibia
(ssp apivorus)
Charles Hesse 16 November 2009 3 years ago 4
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