He is the Delhi-NCR reviewer for Ebird, a Cornell University initiative, monitoring rare sightings of birds. Back in 1928, an English police officer and ornithologist in India named Hugh Whistler, called it the King Crow, not because it was related to crows, but because it surpassed the menacing behaviour of the Corvidae (Crow) family. It’s a support for truth and fairness in journalism. | Photo Credit: A few weeks too early / late or a few kilometers off course and you could miss the greatest show on Earth. We promise to deliver quality journalism that stays away from vested interest and political propaganda. Printable version | Oct 10, 2020 5:32:31 PM | https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/on-the-belligerent-black-drongo/article30700617.ece, Citizen project monitors movement of dragonfly Pantala flavescens from Africa and back. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The bird was conspicuous in the forest habitat that stretched beyond the resort, often perching in the open and attracting attention with a wide range of loud calls that included perfect imitations of many other birds. Certainly no bird brain! Sexes look alike and the bird has a red iris, with its bill and legs fashionably all black. In the Guest Blogger profile, you'll see fresh and exciting content from a range of contributors who have submitted their content to us on a once-off or temporary basis, including press releases, campaigns and exciting adventure and travel tales! The Racket tailed Drongo is an insectivorous bird and hunts in the forest canopies where there are tall and shorter trees. Tailored safari specialists. Few people realise that perhaps the world’s most important field research project studying the evolution of cooperative societies is located in South Africa.”, Other species in the area are also habituated to people watching them at distances of less than five metres, including the drongos and another important species from which they steal food, a bird called the pied babbler. He formerly led a programme of WWF India. A Black Drongo perched on a board bearing its name It has helped us keep apace with events and happenings. The writer is the founder of NINOX - Owl About Nature, a nature-awareness initiative. I saw this bird for the first time in dense forest canopy, in the Western Ghats. These Drongos will sometimes steal insect prey disturbed by other foragers in the flock. Their single note whistle has lead to its being called kothwal ,which means a “policeman” or “guard.”, Deepa Mohan an avid bird watcher who generously takes groups of birders out bird watching, over the weekend says,” The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo is found in Peninsular India and the Western Ghats, and it is not a common bird to be sighted in the environs of Bangalore. Their aggressive behaviour often sees them land on larger birds of prey, like falcons and eagles, and peck at them repeatedly to drive them away. We also reiterate here the promise that our team of reporters, copy editors, fact-checkers, designers, and photographers will deliver quality journalism that stays away from vested interest and political propaganda. The Hindu has always stood for journalism that is in the public interest. You may also find them accompanying herds of cattle in order to catch grasshoppers and other insects dislodged from the grasses. It is a common sight to see these birds chase after crows in the air, swooping at them with an agility in flight only attained by falcons. Greater Racket Trailed Drongo/©Pradeep Rao. With, fantastic endemic and migratory birds, the forest is a magical place.” Swaroop Bharadwaj another well known birder says, “The Racket – tailed Drongo is a forest bird species and can be seen in the forest of Bannerghatta national park and in the Western Ghats. We publish inspiring and thought-provoking stories and photo galleries about African wildlife and safaris for our sophisticated international community. Having short legs, they sit upright and are often perched on high and exposed branches. The breeding season extends from April to August. Their courtship display may involve hops and turns on branches with play behaviour involving dropping an object and picking it in mid- air. Est. In fact, the Black Drongo belongs to a distinct family, the Dicrurus or the Drongos. These cookies do not store any personal information. However, just as in Aesop’s fable about the boy who cried wolf, the drongo can make too many false alarms and cause members of the exploited species to wise up. In areas outside Delhi-NCR where foxes and jackals exist, they’ll attack them too, with the same courage, earning themselves the name Kotwal (a police officer in Hindi). At this difficult time, it becomes even more important that we have access to information that has a bearing on our health and well-being, our lives, and livelihoods. To enable wide dissemination of news that is in public interest, we have increased the number of articles that can be read free, and extended free trial periods. this is the largest of the drongo species and is readily identifiable by the distinctive tail rackets and the crest of curled feather that begin in front of the face above the beak and along the crown. We can unravel the interactions between all these animals because different individuals are identifiable by coloured leg bands (in the case of the birds), or L’Oreal hair dye marks on the fur of the meerkats (don’t worry, it’s been tested on humans).”, In the course of his research on drongos, Dr Flower has habituated and colour-ringed about 200 birds living in 40 territories which overlap with those of the meerkats and babblers. He’ll rapidly get back to his natural behaviour, hawking flies or following meerkats and babblers to steal their food, allowing me to tag along and watch what happens.”.
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