birding-aus
On Saturday whilst planting some banksias in my eucalypt patch, I had the
company of a curious immature drongo that sat up very close and watched the
action. It frequently opened and closed its tail in a pattern I had never
noticed before and which is not illustrated in any of the guides. For
example, look at the illustration of an adult drongo on page 469 of Pizzey
and Knight - the tail feathers are all of equal length and "fishtail out" at
the bottom. However, the outer tail feathers of my immature drongo weren't
as long as the central tail feathers, so that when he fanned his tail, the
outer feathers stuck out the side, progressively down the tail, rather than
in a flat line at the bottom. A bit like a treepie, for those familiar with
SE Asian birds.
I can only deduce that, in immatures, the outer tail feathers take a while
to grow to central tail feather length. Has anyone else noticed this? Any
banders, perhaps? Thanks.
Andrew Thelander
PO Box 302
Pomona QLD 4568
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