SE China drongos (1 Viewer)

[Gretchen]

Hi all,

I've just started to notice drongos in our area (Nanchang, Jiangxi), and am trying to figure out what they are. Yesterday, I'm fairly sure I saw (but have no picture of) a grey morph Ashy Drongo. I'm having troubles identifying the others, though I thought that I had gotten more familiar with the Hair-crested while in Thailand. In particular, I haven't found pictures of all of them flying and so haven't really figured out their flight shape.

These pictures are all taken in the last few weeks. This group, doesn't have any that look like Hair-crested to me, but I'm not very sure how to distinguish dark Ashy and Black Drongos. It may be that these pictures are not clear enough, or from the right angle, to show the necessary features (e.g. eye color or white spot near beak) ... black birds are about as tough as white ones to get exposed well! Also, the 2nd pic is of either a young bird, or one that lost its tail I guess. Any thoughts on that one?

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Gretchen,

Your 5th bird shows a much longer tail than the others, so that might be a possibility for hair crested, but my main field mark for hair-crested is the upturned tail, which your bird doesn't show. Do you get either of the racket-tailed drongos in Nanchang?

The ashy drongos I saw in Jiangxi (around Wuyuan) were the white-faced type. They're very grey and the white face is very obvious. The big black eye really stands out.

JH

 

[johnallcock]

I don't think the darker subspecies of Ashy Drongo reach Jiangxi, so are probably fairly safe ruling that out. As Jeff suggests, Ashy Drongos in that are should probably be leucogenis, which is very pale grey with an obvious white cheek.

A couple of things that I find useful for drongo ID are habitat and tail shape. Black is usually a bird of open country, often perched on wires around fields or on the bare branches of isolated trees. Most other drongos are in more wooded habitat.

Black (and Ashy) has a very deep fork in the tail, and the sides of the tail are only slightly turned up. Hair-crested has a square-cut tail that is very strongly curled up at the sides.

Hair-crested is also quite large-billed and looks a bit brutish. They take large prey (beetles etc.) and have the bills to match. Black and Ashy are quite delicate in comparison, with smaller bills. In suitable light you can also often see the blue spangles on Hair-crested, and very strong blue gloss on the wings.

I would say that all birds in your photos look like Black, for a combination of the reasons above.

 

[andyb39]

Isn't the bill on #2 oddly thick and stubby? Unless it's just the angle.

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

Isn't the bill on #2 oddly thick and stubby? Unless it's just the angle.

Andy,

I think the bird is turning its head to the left.

Agree with John and his reasoning that all are Black.

Grahame

 

[Gretchen]

Thanks all, and especially John for the specific pointers! Considering habitat is a helpful item I hadn't considered. Most of these were found in fairly open areas, though interestingly the Ashy which I very briefly saw, was in a wooded area! I've been used to looking at the different shapes of the tails, and feel I have seen a few Hair-spangled, but haven't gotten a shot of one. The blue spangles I've noted occasionally in Thailand, but that is not such an easy feature to see I've found. I'll pay more attention to bill size as that is easier to see than color.

Jeff, as far as I know we do not have any of the racket-tailed versions here - too bad as they are lots of fun to see!

Do people think the second picture is likely to be a youngster? I didn't see any real behavior besides sitting on the line, so I can't judge by that. (I agree the bird was turning its head - it was an awkward angle.)

I'm a bit confused about the dark subspecies of Ashy Drongos. What are they called and where do they appear? Any reference for where I should look to better understand that? I find mouhoti and nigrescens noted in Robson for Thailand (which is dated), but not my Chinese books. I also saw lots of pics of them in OBC, but am not sure what is current understanding.

 

[johnallcock]

The second picture looks to me like an adult that has lost its tail somehow. Juveniles are paler and barred/spotted white below: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=2228&Bird_Image_ID=113994&p=10

The various subspecies of Ashy are confusing, I agree. I use HBW Alive to check ranges and descriptions of subspecies like this: http://www.hbw.com/species/ashy-drongo-dicrurus-leucophaeus (you may need to be registered and logged in for full access!)
HBW lists 14 subspecies. Some of these are dark and others paler, some have white on the face and some don't, some have longer and more forked tails. Basically, the blackish ones seem to be those found in India and SE Asia; hopwoodi extends into southern China in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong with (I think) a couple of records in Hong Kong.