Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus)
Image Copyright Paul Dunn
Last Observed: March 2017 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Paul Dunn, Dave Hinchliffe
The greater racket-tailed drongo is a splendid Koh Chang resident bird that you will notice due to their two elongated tail feathers that are mainly bare and only feathered at the end (like rackets I guess if you’re naming animals whilst watching tennis, or on drugs).
They are noted for their loud calls and their ability to impersonate other bird calls.
I’ve seen them on two occasions fighting, whilst in flight, and succesfully driving away, the much larger white-bellied sea eagle for which they deserve immense respect.
You’d guess that this behavoir is to drive the bigger birds away from their young in their nests but Wikipedia says nothing on the subject so it might just be that they are really tough, or irritable, or short-sighted.
Update 28/3/2017: You usually only hear these birds at dawn but I’ve had one in the backyard all week presumably calling for a mate? It’s a great sound, click the link below to listen.
Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo Wikipedia
