Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

Dicrurus paradiseus

Mimics 15 other species, leads mixed-species flocks through the forest, and carries two wire-tipped tail rackets.

Habitat: Tropical and subtropical evergreen and deciduous forest, forest edge, and dense scrub, mainly in hills and foothills below about 1,200 m; also secondary growth, bamboo, and well-wooded plantations across its range.
Fun fact: The greater racket-tailed drongo can accurately mimic the alarm calls of other bird species and deploy them in the correct ecological context within mixed-species flocks — sometimes using a false alarm to scatter other birds and steal their disturbed insect prey.
Range: South and Southeast Asia: from the western Himalayas east to the Mishmi Hills, through peninsular India and the Western Ghats, Sri Lanka, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina, southern China (including Hainan), and south through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo, and Java (13 recognized subspecies across this range).
Diet: Mainly insects, taken by sallying from exposed perches; also fruit and nectar from flowering trees; sometimes kleptoparasitic, stealing insect prey flushed by other birds in mixed-species foraging flocks.
Size: 0.56 m
Lifespan: 12 years

More Songbirds