Scientific name: Dicrurus adsimilis
The male is mainly glossy black, although the wings are duller. It is large-headed and has the forked tail which gives the species its name. The female is similar but less glossy. The bill is black and heavy, and the eye is red. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. It flycatches or take prey from the ground and is attracted to bush fires.
In southern Africa it is common and widespread, with massive populations in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa, absent from some grassland and arid habitats. It generally occurs in woodland, such as savanna and riverine woodland, but is also common in alien tree plantations, forest edges, grassland with scattered trees, farmland, gardens and parks.
Highly adaptable, it eats a variety of animal prey, especially insects but also other birds and fish. It often hawks insects from a perch, catching them in flight or on the ground, often targeting insects flying around electric lights. It is a kleptoparasite, regurlarly stealing food from other birds (often within a mixed-species foraging flock) and mammals. A good example is the Suricate (Suricata suricatta): In the Kalahari Desert, drongos sometimes perch above a few foraging Suricates, waiting till one of them finds food, at which point it mimicks their alarm call, snatching up their prey in the ensuing confusion.
