25 May 2010

Drongo - Greater, Bronzed or Lesser Racquet-tailed

To ID Drongos species, the easiest is to look at its tail.
Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo have two long distinctive tail rackets. It absent or shorter in Lesser species
To differentiate it from Black Drongo, Bronze or Ashy species you have to look carefully at the feather colour and a beak.

Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus remifer) in glossed metallic blue, at Fraser's Hill @ Jelai Resort
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Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo

Drongo Lesser Racquet-tailed

Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus)
Drongo -Greater Racquet-tailed

7 comments:

Lois said...

Lovely tail feathers!

Ghost said...

That Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo is of peracensis race. This species thrive at 1500 metres above sea level like Fraser's Hill.
I know because I live there. ;)

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I admire your patience.

Philip said...

Excellent shots we do have these in our country as well but still hard to photograph

wondersf said...

Shhhh! With the XXX head, I think it is a Lesser, of course minus the tail. Moreover, it was Jelai, chances goes up. [I blanco my comments, tell you in person]

Madibirder said...

There were 4-5 Lesser during my last visit to FH, not a single pic to show. Great shots

Ari said...

Great info and excellent shots! I always find it hard to get proper exposure for this bird.