Flag drongo

Flag drongo

We are delighted that Marlon Zewen has taken over the sponsorship of the flag rongo. Thank you very much!

With a body length of approx. 30 cm, the flagged drongo(Dicrurus paradiseus) is a large songbird from the drongo family (Dicruridae). It is found in Nepal, India and South-East Asia.

The plumage of the flag drongo is completely black and has a blue to blue-green sheen. The two most striking external features are, on the one hand, the backward-curved head crest, which can reach a length of up to 2.5 cm. The other is the two extremely elongated outer tail feathers of the forked tail. They merge into a wire-like shape at the end of the rest of the tail and finally form the so-called "flags". In total, they can reach a length of 35 cm and are therefore sometimes longer than the bird itself.

The flagged rongo mainly inhabits various forest habitats. These include rainforests, deciduous forests, mangrove forests and bamboo forests up to an altitude of around 1500 metres. However, it is also sometimes found in plantations, gardens and parks near human dwellings. It feeds mainly on insects, but also hunts small vertebrates such as frogs and lizards. The flag-tailed rongo also supplements its diet with plant foods such as fruit and flower nectar. It is unusual in that it not only forages during the day, but also often at dusk. When hunting, it often stays close to other flocks of birds or groups of mammals in order to benefit from the insects they scare up.

The breeding season of the flag-tailed trongo is between April and September. The two strictly monogamous parents are equally responsible for nest building, incubation and rearing the young. The nest is built from plant fibres, roots, twigs and leaves in a tree at a height of 5 to 20 metres. The female lays between 2 and 4 white to pink-coloured eggs with reddish-brown spots. The young remain dependent on their parents for around 5 months until they go their own way.

The population of the flag-tailed trongo is currently not endangered. It is quite common in many areas and is protected by several national parks in its range. Only the populations on smaller islands are threatened, as the birds there are being displaced by the ever-growing agriculture and industry.