BFCS or Drongo

Further to our earlier email on the leucistic Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike. We spoke to a local, Sue, who has a terrific collection of bird photos, among which are good ones of this bird. Her advice through contacts in Birds in Backyards is that the bird is a young Spangled Drongo, based on the black eye and the tail-shape. We still have some difficulty with this as the tail doesn’t show the fishtail feathers (though there is a bit of an indentation in the middle). Bev saw the typical wing movement of the Cuckoo-shrike when it landed. We had no calls, and Sue said she hasn’t heard it call at all. Since I wrote the above, we’ve talked to Sue again and looked at the photos together with the apps, and we are swinging back to Sue’s ID. She first noticed the bird in June. A couple of points someone might comment on: •. Birds can shuffle their wings however they like, but how likely would it be for a Drongo? •. When does the fishtail on a Drongo develop? •. We saw a Drongo once that had the fishtail feathers half way down the tail, and assume they come down and replace the other feathers. Peter The conservation battle is never finally won; the development battle is.