Dicrurus macrocercus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia and accidental visitor of Japan. It is an all black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm (11 in) in length. It feeds on insects, and is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines.
The species is known for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any bird of prey that invades its territory. This behaviour earns it the informal name of king crow. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting black drongo. Previously grouped along with the African fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), the Asian forms are now treated as a separate species with several distinct populations.
The black drongo is listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the IUCN Red List, due to its large range and relative commonness. It has been introduced to some Pacific islands, where it has thrived and become abundant to the point of threatening and causing the extinction of native and endemic bird species there. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranchi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Bhubaneshwar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Visakhapatnam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Madurai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Savar | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 6 | Puducherry | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Hajipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Bhopal | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Asansol | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Berhampore | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Edward Youde Aviary | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Black Drongo sighting in Tiruppur on a given day, based on 1,658 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 8th most-seen of the 132 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Black Drongo in Tiruppur on a given day, against about 60% in March, June and September, the lowest months. Those are among Tiruppur's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 150 mm in October.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Drongo sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 102
Of the 102 cities where we can rate Black Drongo sightings, Tiruppur ranks 17th at about 70%. The best odds are in Ranchi (India, about 90%), Bhubaneshwar (India, about 90%) and Visakhapatnam (India, about 90%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Black Drongo that you can see in Tiruppur (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are House Crow (over 90%), Yellow-billed Babbler (about 90%) and Large-billed Crow (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Drongo is recorded against all the birds logged in Tiruppur (1,658 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.
