Bronzed Drongo vs White-bellied Drongo

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

White-bellied Drongo

Dicrurus caerulescens

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This drongo is black without any glossy feathers on the upperside and greyish on the throat and breast, while the belly and vent are entirely white in the Indian form which is the nominate subspecies. The fork of the tail is less deep than in the black drongo which is often seen in the same habitats. Young black drongos can have a lot of white on the underside but it is usually scaly in appearance. The Sri Lankan forms insularis of the northern dry zone and leucopygialis of the southern wet zone have the white restricted to the vent.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Hafiz Issadeen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by

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