Drongo Fantail

Chaetorhynchus papuensis

Alternative names: Papuan Drongo; Mountain Drongo; Papuan Mountain Drongo; Pygmy Drongo-Fantail; Drongo Fantail

Identification

20 - 22cm. A small drongo:

• Sooty-black plumage
• Tail slightly rounded (not forked)
• Short and strongly compressed bill, upper mandible strongly hooked
• Very long rictal bristles
• Brown eye

Sexes similar. Females are slightly smaller. Immatures are duller and have a white gape.

Distribution

Endemic to hills and mountains of New Guinea.
Fairly common to scarce in its range.

Taxonomy

A monotypic species.
No longer placed with the Drongos but in the Fantail family.

Habitat

Hill forests from 200m up to 1600m, mainly between 600 and 1400m.
Spangled Drongo is found in lowland forests.

Behaviour

Feeds on insects and spiders.
Hunts from a perch, sallying out in middle and lower strata of forest.
Often joins mixed-species flocks with Warblers, Fantails, Monarch-flycatchers and Pitohuis, acting as sentinel.
The nest is a small shallow basket, hunging from a tree fork. No other data about breeding.
A resident species.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Drongo Fantail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Drongo_Fantail

External Links

Search for photos of Drongo Fantail in the gallery