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Ribbon-tailed Drongo Dicrurus megarhynchus Scientific name definitions

Gérard Rocamora and Dosithée Yeatman-Berthelot
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2009

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

51–56 cm (up to 63 cm including elongated tail feathers); two birds 129 g, 130 g. Male is black to bluish-black, with strong blue-steel gloss on crown, wings and tail (except outermost tail feathers), neck with glossy blue streaks, upper breast sparsely spangled with glossy blue spots, underwing-­coverts sparsely tipped with white; frontal feathers well developed and extending about half to two-thirds along culmen; outermost tail feathers enormously elongated (average length 384 mm) and fully webbed to the tips, extending 14–17 cm beyond rest of tail, distal third or quarter of shaft twisting spirally inwards (these feathers often broken, not fully grown or absent); iris orange-red or dark red; bill strong, black; legs black. Female is similar to male but smaller, with shorter tail-steamers. Juvenile undescribed.

Systematics History

DNA studies (1) indicate that this species is most closely related to D. bracteatus, and also close to D. hottentottus. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

New Ireland, in Bismarck Archipelago.

Habitat

Primary lowland forest, hill forest, stunted mossy montane forest and tall secondary growth; sea-level to 1800 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Small invertebrates. Forages mainly in middle stage to canopy, but also, at higher elevations, in substage of mossy forest. Perches upright, tail dangling, on open perch within cover, from where it sallies for winged insects; also picks arthropods from surface of branches and leaves. Fairly shy and less noisy than D. bracteatus, and rather difficult to observe.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Very varied vocalizations, including high-pitched fluty notes, rapid upslurs, low-pitched soft disyllabic whistles given in slow and quiet succession; another remarkable repeated strophe consists of a rolling sound dropping into low-pitched deep twanging note. Calls include distinctive liquid whistle of several similar notes, and a whistled series, without harsh notes. Flares tail when calling. Voice different from that of D. bracteatus, even if some calls appear similar to those of New Guinea race carbonarius of latter.

Breeding

No information available.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife NT Near Threatened
Not globally threatened. Restricted range species: present in New Britain and New Ireland EBA. Fairly common to common. Global population trends not evaluated, but believed not to approach the level of population decline that would merit conservation concern. Nevertheless, natural forest is declining, threatened by logging or destruction for industrial plantations; this species, restricted to a small range (area of New Ireland is 8650 km2), could therefore become Near-threatened in the future.
Distribution of the Ribbon-tailed Drongo - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Ribbon-tailed Drongo

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Rocamora, G. and D. Yeatman-Berthelot (2020). Ribbon-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus megarhynchus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ritdro1.01
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