---
title: "Fork-tailed Drongo"
description: "Dicrurus adsimilis — Birds. The fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), also called the common drongo or African drongo, is a small bird found from the Sahel to South Africa that lives in wooded habitats, particularly woodlands and savannas."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/fork-tailed-drongo
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Fork-tailed Drongo

> Dicrurus adsimilis — Birds. The fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), also called the common drongo or African drongo, is a small bird found from the Sahel to South Africa that lives in wooded habitats, particularly woodlands and savannas.

- Scientific name: *Dicrurus adsimilis*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `savanna` (Savanna)
- iNaturalist observations: 10901
- Wikidata: [Q742259](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q742259)
- iNaturalist taxon: [8268](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/8268)

## Names

- en: Fork-tailed Drongo
- de: Trauerdrongo
- es: Drongo ahorquillado
- fr: Drongo brillant
- nl: Treurdrongo
- pt: Drongo-de-cauda-forcada
- pl: Dziwogon żałobny

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (6380), NA (750), KE (727), BW (515), TZ (415), ZW (265), ZM (231), BJ (183), GM (138), MW (88), UG (78), ET (67)

## Summary

The fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), also called the common drongo or African drongo, is a small bird found from the Sahel to South Africa that lives in wooded habitats, particularly woodlands and savannas. It is part of the family Dicruridae and has four recognized subspecies, D. a adsimilis, D. a. apivorus, D. a. fugax and D. a. jubaensis. Like other drongos, the fork-tailed is mostly insectivorous; its diet mainly consists of butterflies, termites, and grasshoppers.
Physically, this species is characterized with a narrow fork-shaped tail, red-brownish eyes, and black plumage throughout all of its body.…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork-tailed_drongo

## Photo

![Fork-tailed Drongo](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/fork-tailed-drongo/medium.jpg)

Photo: Dave Brown · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/92093325

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/fork-tailed-drongo?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).