The fork-tailed drongo-cuckoo (''Surniculus dicruroides'') is a species of

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

that resembles a black drongo. It is found resident mainly in peninsular India in hill forests although some specimens are known from the Himalayan foothills. It can be easily distinguished by its straight beak and the white barred vent. It has a deeply forked tail often having a white spot on the back of the head. The song has been described as a series of 5 or 6 whistling "pip-pip-pip-pip-pip-" notes rising in pitch with each "pip". It is a brood parasite on small babblers. It is not known how or whether the

drongo The drongos are a family, Dicruridae, of passerine birds of the Old World tropics. The 30 species in the family are placed in a single genus, ''Dicrurus''. Drongos are mostly black or dark grey, short-legged birds, with an upright stance when ...

-like appearance benefits this species but it is suspected that it aids in brood-parasitism just as hawk-cuckoos appear like hawks. The species was described by Brian Hodgson from Nepal as ''Pseudornis dicruroides''. It was later placed as a subspecies of ''Surniculus lugubris''. In 2005 it was suggested that the species was should be split from the more narrowly defined square-tailed drongo-cuckoo ''Surniculus lugubris'' due to morphological and call differences. Rasmussen, P. C. & Anderton, J. C. 2005 Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Smithsonian and Lynx Edicions

References

fork-tailed drongo-cuckoo The fork-tailed drongo-cuckoo (''Surniculus dicruroides'') is a species of cuckoo that resembles a black drongo. It is found resident mainly in peninsular India in hill forests although some specimens are known from the Himalayan foothills. It ca ...

Birds of South China Birds of Hainan Birds of the Himalayas Birds of South Asia

{{Cuculiformes-stub