Bronzed Drongo Dicrurus aeneus ranges Indian subcontinent east to Taiwan and south through mainland Southeast Asia to Sumatra and Borneo. In China, nominate race resident from southeastern Tibet through western and southern Yunnan to southern Guangxi, with disjunct population on Hainan; and braunianus is endemic to mountains of Taiwan. In forests, mainly upper and middle canopy, to 2000 m. Often in flocks, sometimes mixed. Small, very glossy, mainly dark-blue drongo with large black face mask and grey-black belly and vent. Shallow fork to tail. Female slightly smaller. Juvenile sooty-brown, not glossy. Black drongo and hopwoodi ashy drongo are larger and less glossy, and fork of tail is more pronounced. Hair-crested drongo is much larger and has “hairs” rising from forehead. Fork-tailed drongo cuckoo is slimmer and has a thinner, decurved bill; dark eyes; narrow white bars on vent, undertail coverts, and underside of outer tail feathers; and a white nuchal spot (often hidden). Bill black, feet dark grey to black; eyes reddish-brown (but often appear black). Songs complex, varied, some almost thrush-like. Excellent mimic. — Craig Brelsford
THE DRONGOS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers every species in China of the monogeneric family Dicruridae. Click any link:
Bronzed Drongo Dicrurus aeneus
Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo D. remifer
Crow-billed Drongo D. annectens
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo D. paradiseus
Hair-crested Drongo D. hottentottus
Ashy Drongo D. leucophaeus
Black Drongo D. macrocercus
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
