Ashy Drongo vs Bronzed Drongo

Ashy Drongo

Dicrurus leucophaeus

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The adult ashy drongo is mainly dark grey, and the tail is long and deeply forked, There are a number of subspecies varying in the shade of the grey plumage. Some subspecies have white markings on the head. Young birds are dull brownish grey. Subspecies longicaudatus of India (which includes beavani of the Himalayas that winters on the peninsula, with one breeding population in central India that Vaurie separates as longicaudatus in the restricted sense) is very dark and almost like the black drongo although this bird is slimmer and has a somewhat longer and less-splayed tail.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by chandu bandi · Tirupati, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Jay Pruett, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Jay Pruett · cc-by

Bronzed Drongo

Dicrurus aeneus

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This drongo is somewhat smaller than the black drongo and has more metallic gloss with a spangled appearance on the head, neck and breast. The lores are velvety and the ear coverts are duller. The tail is slender and well forked with the outer tail feathers flaring outward slightly. Immatures have their axillaries tipped in white. The young bird is duller and brownish with less spangling. The nominate race is found in India and extending until the northern part of the Malay Peninsula.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Jalmesh Karapurkar · Call · Tulshimal (near Poriem), Goa, India · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Ben Costamagna · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Ashy Drongo and Bronzed Drongo.