Black Drongo [Dicrurus macrocercus] (perched on Spotted Deer)
Flora & Fauna
The Black Drongo is one of the two drongos found on the IIT Madras campus. The other drongo is the Ashy/Grey Drongo. The eBird website describes the bird as “A pugnacious species, frequently chasing away larger birds with repeated dives and harsh chattering calls. A skilled mimic of other species, and a strong songster in general, delivering a wide range of pleasant fluty calls, harsh chattering, nasal notes, and high sharp whistles.” It has a unique forked tail, which is suggested by its scientific name; Dicrurus can be split into the words dikros which means ‘forked’ in Greek, and ouros, which means ‘tailed’. Macrocercus is derived from makrokerkos in Greek. Makros means ‘long’ and kerkos means ‘tail’. The Black Drongo is known to destroy large quantities of insect pests. Ali and Ripley write “a pair will fearlessly attack and put to flight large birds like crows, and even raptors, blundering within the precincts of the nest-tree with angry ‘war-cries’ and much ferocity…like fighter planes tackling a heavy bomber.”
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