Dicrurus forficatus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
The crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus) is a passerine bird in the family Dicruridae. It is black with a bluish-green sheen, a distinctive crest on the forehead and a forked tail. Its habitat is lowland forests, both dry and humid, and open savannah country. It is a common bird and the IUCN has listed it as "least concern".
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the crested drongo in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name Le grand gobe-mouche noir hupé de Madagascar and the Latin Muscicapa Madagascariensis nigra major cristata. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the crested drongo. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Berenty Reserve | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 3 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 4 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zürich Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 2 | Botanical and Zoological Garden of Tsimbazaza | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Very likely
About 90% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Drongo sighting in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, based on 643 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the most-seen of the 83 birds we can rate there.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Drongo in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season. January–March and May have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crested Drongo sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Crested Drongo sightings, Ankarafantsika National Park has the highest daily chance: about 90%. Next come Berenty Reserve (Madagascar, about 90%) and Ranomafana National Park (Madagascar, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Crested Drongo that you can see in Ankarafantsika National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Madagascar Paradise-Flycatcher (about 90%), Madagascar Bulbul (about 90%) and Souimanga Sunbird (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crested Drongo is recorded against all the birds logged in Ankarafantsika National Park (643 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
