Dicrurus forficatus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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 Berenty Reserve on a given day, based on 235 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 63 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
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.
Among the best
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Crested Drongo sightings, Berenty Reserve ranks 2nd at about 90%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Ankarafantsika National Park (Madagascar, about 90%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Crested Drongo that you can see in Berenty Reserve (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Pied Crow (about 90%), Madagascar Paradise-Flycatcher (about 70%) and Common Jery (about 70%), 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 Berenty Reserve (235 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.
