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White-bellied Drongo Index Showed Clear Declines on Both Time Scales in India

White-bellied drongo perched on a branch
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised national trend estimates for the white-bellied drongo (Dicrurus caerulescens) in India. The numerical update was released on 6 May 2026 from the project’s updated eBird-based dataset.

The long-term numerical estimate was −34.5%, while the current annual estimate was −2% per year. Both updated national estimates clearly supported a decline. The carried-over national 2023 categories are Decline for the long-term trend and Trend Inconclusive for the current trend; these labels were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The species’ modelled distribution range in India was estimated at 975,285 km². State of India’s Birds describes the white-bellied drongo as a resident species associated with forest and plantations and endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. It remains in the assessment’s Moderate conservation-priority category.

The interim release updated numerical range, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using about 48 million eBird observations submitted across India through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The assessment categories themselves were not recalculated in this update.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: White-bellied Drongo (Dicrurus caerulescens), Protected Areas.The Protected Areas page’s 2025 table displays the India-wide numerical values alongside Protected Areas estimates: India long-term trend −34.52% (−47.32 to −16.15), current annual trend −1.95% (−3.31 to −0.60), and distribution range 975,285 km² (974,755–975,815). The assessment categories at the top of this page refer to Protected Areas, not the national India assessment.
  3. SoIB. (2023). State of India’s Birds, 2023: Range, trends, and conservation status. The SoIB Partnership. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11124589Primary national assessment whose categories remain in force after the 2025 numerical update: White-bellied Drongo is Moderate Priority, with Decline as the long-term category and Trend Inconclusive as the current annual category.

Image: Mildeep / Wikimedia Commons — white-bellied drongo (Dicrurus caerulescens caerulescens) photographed in Nepal, 14 December 2022; representative species image, cropped to 16:9 from the original · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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