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Black Drongos Had Lower Estimated Density at Sites With More Trees and Greater Canopy Cover in Northern India

A black drongo perched on a diagonal branch against green vegetation
Research · Ecology

A broader survey of 35 common bird species along a rural–urban gradient in the Mirzapur and Bhadohi districts of Uttar Pradesh, India found that predicted density of black drongos (Dicrurus macrocercus) was lower at sites with more trees and greater canopy cover. The result was one species-specific response in a study designed to compare bird density across rural, semi-urban and urban landscapes.

A point count is a survey in which observers remain at a fixed location for a set period and record birds seen or heard, allowing sites to be compared in a standardised way.

Researchers established 183 point-count stations across rural, semi-urban and urban areas and surveyed each station three times from March to May 2024. Across the full study, they recorded 27,818 individuals belonging to 35 resident bird species. Because black drongos were less likely to be detected as wind speed increased, the density models accounted for this change in detectability.

Estimated density was lower where trees and canopy cover were greater

After local vegetation, land cover, human activity and housing variables were considered, predicted black drongo density was lower at sites with more trees and greater canopy cover. The authors discuss this pattern in the wider context of insectivorous birds that were often associated with open agricultural or shrub-dominated habitats in the study landscape.

Black drongos and Asian green bee-eaters (Merops orientalis) partly overlapped as aerial foragers in open habitats. More broadly, 27 of the 35 modelled species varied in density along the rural–urban gradient, but the direction of the response differed among species and foraging guilds.

The study represents one season

The authors describe the study as a one-season snapshot. The black drongo result therefore describes spatial differences in estimated density across the surveyed landscape from March to May 2024, not a long-term population trend.

Sources and image credit

  1. Gautam, A., Singh, A., & Kalle, R. (2026). Avian neighbours: density patterns of synanthropic birds along a rural–urban landscape gradient in Northern India. Scientific Reports, 16, 6879. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36510-5Primary peer-reviewed article. Published 1 February 2026. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; article figures are therefore not reused or cropped.

Image: Rison Thumboor — black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) photographed in Thrissur, India, 7 August 2015; representative Indian species image, not a bird from the Uttar Pradesh study. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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