Dicrurus adsimilis
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), also called the common drongo or African drongo, is a small bird found from the Sahel to South Africa that lives in wooded habitats, particularly woodlands and savannas. Like other drongos, the fork-tailed is mostly insectivorous; its diet mainly consists of butterflies, termites, and grasshoppers.
Physically, this species is characterized with a narrow fork-shaped tail, red-brownish eyes, and black plumage throughout all of its body. These birds nest close to wetlands, forests, and farms and the breeding season varies depending the region. The female usually lays one to four eggs, which hatch in 15 to 18 days.
The fork-tailed drongo is known for its ability to deceptively mimic other bird alarm calls in order for a certain animal to flee the scene so it can steal their food (kleptoparasitism). They are also known for their aggressive and fearless behavior, often attacking and driving away much larger animals, including birds of prey, when their nest is in danger. Due to its extensive range and stable population, the fork-tailed drongo is classified by the IUCN Red List as a least-concern species. Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fork-tailed Drongo sighting in Lilongwe on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 18th most-seen of the 52 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–June, August and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Fork-tailed Drongo in Lilongwe on a given day, against about 10% in July, September and December–April, the lowest months. Those are among Lilongwe's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 310 mm in January. October has too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fork-tailed 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.
9th of 16
Of the 16 cities where we can rate Fork-tailed Drongo sightings, Lilongwe ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 70%), Abuja (Nigeria, about 60%) and Harare (Zimbabwe, about 50%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Fork-tailed Drongo that you can see in Lilongwe (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Pied Crow (about 50%), Common Bulbul (about 40%) and White-browed Robin-Chat (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fork-tailed Drongo is recorded against all the birds logged in Lilongwe (12 verified sightings), 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.
