Drongos: Dicruridae

Physical characteristics: The body length is 7.5 inches (19 centimeters). No weights are recorded. The plumage of males is mostly black with a deep blue sheen, the tail has a small notch, the underwing bears white-tipped feathers. The bill is black, the eyes an intense red, black legs and feet. The female is colored similarly but the overall coloring is duller.

Geographic range: Square-tailed drongos live in Africa south of the Sahara.

Habitat: These birds are found in lowland and mountain tropical rainforest.

When foraging alone, a square-tailed drongo sits on a branch, waiting for an insect to fly within striking distance. When it does, the bird flies off the branch and snags the insect in mid-flight. (Illustration by Brian Cressman. Reproduced by permission.)

Diet: Square-tailed drongos eat mainly insects, also nectar.

Behavior and reproduction: Individuals forage alone, in pairs, and in association with other bird species that forage in flocks. It is often kleptoparasitic on other foraging birds. When foraging alone, a square-tailed drongo sits on a branch, waiting for an insect to fly within striking distance. When it does, the bird flies off the branch and snags the insect in mid-flight.

Square-tailed drongos have loud voices with many variations of sounds produced, generally a jumbled string of tweets, whistlings, and twangings. Like most drongo species, the square-tailed drongo can imitate the voices of other bird species.

Square-tailed drongos form monagamous breeding pairs, and both parents incubate the eggs and care for the young. The female lays two or three eggs. The nest is a small cuplike structure made of leaves, small twigs, plant fibers, spider webs and lichens. The nest is hung like a hammock from a tree branch.

Square-tailed drongos and people: There is little interaction between square-tailed drongos and people.

Conservation status: These birds are not threatened. ∎