
It was a higher racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus), a uncommon mimic, noticed hopping on treetops close to Bheemunipadam waterfalls in Mahbubabad on March 31.
The drongo, infamous for vocal deception, is thought to mimic the calls of different birds with accuracy. This one mimicked the bottom dweller junglefowl so exactly that even skilled birders have been fooled.
“I genuinely thought it was a junglefowl,” mentioned a birdwatcher Sri Ram Reddy who recorded the mimicry. “Then I appeared up and noticed the drongo sitting some 25-feet excessive. Its mimicry was flawless.”
The higher racket-tailed drongo is a forest-dwelling chook recognized not just for its distinctive tail but additionally for its vocals. It may well reproduce the calls of babblers, mynas, and raptors just like the crested serpent eagle. Specialists say this behaviour permits the drongo to outcompete rivals and manipulate mixed-species flocks.
“It makes use of mimicry to disrupt and dominate,” added Sri Ram Reddy. “By mimicking alarm calls, it could scare different birds away, then swoop in and take the meals,” he mentioned.
The species is often discovered within the forests of the northeast, western ghats, and components of central India. Telangana falls outdoors its typical vary, making this uncommon. Confirmed sightings within the state are restricted to Mahbubabad and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts, each with pockets of dense forest.
“The thick forest habitat at Bheemunipadam helps its presence,” Sri Ram mentioned. “However such sightings stay uncommon in Telangana as many of the state has dry deciduous forest cowl.”
Forest patches in southern Telangana are actually drawing consideration for internet hosting much less frequent species, presumably as a result of shifts in habitat use or climate-related modifications. “The drongo doesn’t simply go to. It performs,” Sri Ram added, “And when it does, it leaves little doubt about who’s accountable for the soundscape.”