Fork-tailed drongos use deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food

A very interesting report from BBC- Earth about how Fork-tailed Drongos Dicrurus adsimilis make alarm calls of other species to make Meerkats run to cover, while the Drongos steal the Merkats’s food. What a rascal!
Science and nature reporter  of the BBC – Victoria Gill – reports:

Drongos in the Kalahari mimic the alarm calls of other species in order to steal food, scientists have found.

The birds “play tricks” on meerkats in particular, following the little mammals around until they catch a meal.

The drongos then make fake alarm calls that mimic other species and cause the meerkats to run for cover, allowing the drongos to swoop in.

The findings are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The scientists suggest that by mimicking other species, drongos keeps their deception “believable”. ….More on the BBC article….

Photo used for Thumbnail to this article by Chris Eason. The Merkaat and Drongo photo supposedly Tom Flower the researcher on whose paper the BBC article is based on.