Crested drongo
Dicrurus forficatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
The crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus) is a species in the family Dicruridae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 47 g to 47.1 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the crested drongo
- Weight
- 47.1 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- woodlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.8src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the crested drongo live?
Not recorded
What is the crested drongo?
The crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus) is a passerine bird in the family Dicruridae. It is black with a bluish-green sheen, a distinctive crest on the forehead and a forked tail. There are two subspecies; D. f. forficatus is endemic to Madagascar and D. f. potior, which is larger, is found on the Comoro Islands. Its habitat is lowland forests, both dry and humid, and open savannah country. It is a common bird and the IUCN has listed it as "least concern".
From the Wikipedia article “Crested drongo” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crested_drongo&oldid=1314523481), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the crested drongo endangered?
The crested drongo is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the crested drongo classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyDicruridae
- genusDicrurus
- SpeciesDicrurus forficatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms Lanius forficatus
Other names and names in other languages (31)
- Madagascar crested drongoEnglish
- Madagascar crested drongoEnglish
- drongo crestatCatalan
- drongo chocholatýCzech
- Drongo CribogWelsh
- Toppet DrongoDanish
- MadagaskardrongoGerman
- GabeldrongoGerman
- kresta drongoEsperanto
- tuttdrongoEstonian
- töyhtödrongoFinnish
- Drongo malgacheFrench
- madagaskarski drongoCroatian
- búbos drongóHungarian
- Drongo crestatoItalian
- Drongo crestato malgascioItalian
- マダガスカルオウチュウJapanese
- madagaskarinis kuoduotasis drongasLithuanian
- DrongoMalagasy
- RailovyMalagasy
- KuifdrongoDutch
- børstedrongoNorwegian
- dziwogon czubatyPolish
- drongo-malgaxePortuguese
- Хохлатый дронгоRussian
- drongo chochlatýSlovak
- Ćubasti drongoSerbian
- Sorguçlu DrongoTurkish
- дронго чубатийUkrainian
- 冠卷尾Chinese
- 馬達加斯加冠卷尾Chinese
Relatives of the crested drongo
Other species in the same genus Dicrurus.
Black drongo
Dicrurus macrocercus
Greater racket-tailed drongo
Dicrurus paradiseus
Ashy drongo
Dicrurus leucophaeus
Bronzed drongo
Dicrurus aeneus
Fork-tailed drongo
Dicrurus adsimilis
Andaman drongo
Dicrurus andamanensis
CompareCrested drongo vs Black drongoCrested drongo vs Greater racket-tailed drongoCrested drongo vs Ashy drongoCrested drongo vs Bronzed drongo
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the crested drongo?
An adult crested drongo weighs 47.1 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the crested drongo endangered?
The crested drongo is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the crested drongo?
The crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus) belongs to the family Dicruridae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-drongo
“Crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-drongo.
@misc{crested_drongo_2026,
title = {Crested drongo (Dicrurus forficatus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-drongo},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}