Drongo

I have to be careful here, and don't want anyone to feel insulted. In Australian slang the word 'drongo' means a fool, an idiot. It's a mild form of insult, well short of calling someone an imbecile.

But, confusingly, drongos are also a family of birds. There are nearly 30 species from Africa, through India and SE Asia to Australia. We have only one species in Australia, the Spangled Drongo, which I photographed today at Boulder Beach near here. The distinctive feature of all drongos is the long forked tail. 

How did a bird name become a slang term meaning a silly person? Lots of websites (eg this one) say it happened because an Australian racehorse, named Drongo after the bird, never won a race. Well, maybe! 

I also caught today's drongo silhouetted in flight - see extra.