Sunday 23 March 2014

The not so slow Drongo

"You silly drongo" was a mild insult relatively common from the 1920s up until the latter part of the 20th Century.   Anyone who is familiar with the Spangled Drongo, Australia's only drongo species, could rightly wonder why the term 'drongo' was used in this derogatory way.   The bird is a swift flying and intelligent species which chases other birds to steal their food.  Drongos associate with flocks of Cuckoo-shrike species, mostly Black-faced and White-bellied, but also occasionally Barred and Cicadabirds.  This association would most likely be due to the kleptoparasitism of the Drongo.  Drongos have been observed chasing both Black-faced and White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes which were carrying food in their bills.  The name 'drongo' is a shortened form of various French alternatives, based on a supposed native Malagasy name for the species in Madagascar (HANZAB 2006).  However why the derogatory term?  Well it is only indirectly related to the bird.  In the 1920s in Melbourne there was a race horse called 'drongo'.  Although he did achieve some success in a few races he never achieved his full potential, never winning a race, and was considered unlucky and slow.  Therefore a person considered to be slow was called a 'drongo'.

During late summer and early autumn Spangled Drongos migrate from their breeding areas in northern and eastern Australia, south to Bellingen, NSW.  Some fly north and birds have been observed crossing Torres Strait to New Guinea, while others travel south and a number usually reach Sydney, a few reach Melbourne and some rarely reach Tasmania.  I saw my First Spangled Drongo as a teenager in Sydney.  As far as I can determine the Spangled Drongo is the only bird species (in Australia or in the world) where part of the population migrates north for the winter while part travels south.  I would be interested to hear about other examples if they exist.  Although they are known to travel hundreds of kilometres, the longest movement recorded for the species in the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) is only 67 km.  This was a bird that I banded at South Grafton in 1978 which was found sick at Coffs Harbour a little over two months later.  The longest time between banding and recovery for the species is just over 7 years 11 months (ABBBS).

This year seems to be a bumper year for the species.  Although I see them every year migrating through the Clarence Valley, where I live, they were more obvious this year.  Numbers appeared to be greater than normal and they stayed for longer.  More reports were received on Birdline and Birding-aus from the Sydney area as well.  Maybe they had a very successful breeding event last spring.

They arrived near home, at Coutts Crossing, on February 1 when I heard 2+ calling.  I heard them again on February 2 and on February 4 I observed 6+ flying from eucalypts near Armidale Road to the school reserve at 07:00 hrs.  Then on February 7 10+ visited the trees in our backyard.  They comprised adults and begging juveniles and their constant activity made counting difficult so there was possibly a greater number present.  This visit coincided with an abundance of Christmas Beetles and Cicadas and the yard was full of noisy insectivorous birds.  In addition the Drongos there were Noisy and Little Friarbirds, Little Wattlebirds, Noisy Miners, an Olive-backed Oriole, Australasian Figbirds and a group of 12+ Blue-faced Honeyeaters.  I wasn't sure where to look there was so much activity and the noise was almost deafening.


Adult Spangled Drongo in backyard 070214


Juvenile Spangled Drongo in backyard 070214

 
Juvenile dozing after stuffing itself with beetles


Two juvenile Drongos one with Christmas Beetle


Adult Noisy Friarbird in backyard 070214


Juvenile Noisy Friarbird in backyard 070214


The next day I saw only one Drongo a short distance down the road from home but on February 9 there were 5 in our front yard, including two juveniles.  When they flew to the backyard an adult fed a blackish cicada to a begging juvenile.  A little later a Brown Goshawk flew over and the adult Drongo called out in alarm.  The Spangled Drongo utters a call very similar to that of the Brown Goshawk and I am not sure whether it imitates the Goshawk call or just has a similar call by co-incidence.  Drongos were seen or heard daily until February 14 but then not again until February 21 (I was away from February 18-21 so they could have been present on those days).  Subsequent sightings were made on February 22, 23, 28 and March 1-4, 6-10, 17-19 but there have been no sighting since the last date.  One bird was catching insects on the wing on March 9.  Most later records were of single birds so it seems likely that the migrating flocks may have moved on.  It is normal for single birds to winter in various Clarence Valley locations, including within backyards in the City of Grafton.

Association with cuckoo-shrikes was noted a number of times as follows:

22/02/14 - 3+ Drongos in same or nearby trees to 6+ Black-faced and 2+ White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes (one White-bellied was a begging juvenile).  One Drongo chased another on the wing.  
 
23/02/14 - 3+ Drongos in same or nearby trees to 6+ Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes (BFCS).  I Drongo chasing BFCS which was carrying food in bill.

02/03/14 - 3 BFCS and 1 Drongo landed in eucalypt the a Drongo was chasing a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike (WBCS) on the wing which appeared to have food in its bill.  When the two birds landed neither had any food.

03/03/14 - 2 BFCS, 1WBCS and 1 Drongo in same or nearby tree.

At Glenugie Creek, south of Grafton, on February 8 Warren Thompson and I counted 25+ Spangled Drongos moving through the trees.  The movement was at times erratic so the count was probably an underestimate.  Three + BFCS were moving through at the same time.

I caught and banded two juvenile Drongos in our backyard on February 12.  I found out what it was like to be a cicada or a Christmas Beetle when they both took turns in biting my fingers with their sharp bills.  One also demonstrated how deep it could get its claws into my hand.  Ouch!!!


First juvenile Drongo banded on February 12


First juvenile banded - head shot

Second juvenile banded on February 12


Second juvenile banded - head shot

Second juvenile - tasting my hand


 

2 comments:

  1. Interesting birds and very well described photographs, showing difference of birds age.
    Lots of interesting birding.
    Greetings from two ornithologist from Poland

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am glad that you enjoyed the post. It is nice to get greetings from Poland.

    ReplyDelete