Great-tailed Grackle

Quiscalus mexicanus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family ICTERIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A large, noisy blackbird, the Great-tailed Grackle has been expanding its range in North America throughout the last century. A bird of open country with scattered trees and water, it took advantage of urbanization and irrigation to move northward from Mexico into much of western United States.

Cool Facts

• Three different subspecies of Great-tailed Grackles have expanded into the United States from three separate areas of Mexico.

• The Great-tailed and Boat-tailed grackles have at times been considered the same species. Current thinking is that they are closely related, but different species.

• As it expands its range northward the Great-tailed Grackle tends to migrate out of the most northern areas. It quickly becomes a resident and stays through the winter.

• Great-tailed Grackles roost together in large numbers outside of the breeding season. In Central America these large, noisy roosts frequently are found in the central plaza of small towns.

Description

• Size: 38-46 cm (15-18 in)
• Weight: 115-265 g (4.06-9.35 ounces)

• Large blackbird.
• Very long tail.
• Male shiny black, female brown.

Sex Differences

Male iridescent black. Female dull brown and significantly smaller.

Male

Iridescent black with purplish-blue sheen. Yellow eyes. Long, graduated, keep-shaped tail. Moderately long, strong black legs. Flat-topped head profile.

Female

Dusky brown with darker wings and tail. Yellow eye. Buffy eyestripe and throat. Cinnamon buff to buffy brown on belly. Long tail only slightly keeled, if at all. Bill black. Legs black.

Immature

Juvenile is brown like female, with streaked underparts and dark eyes.

Similar Species

• Common Grackle smaller, with shorter tail and more restricted purple.
• Boat-tailed Grackle is very similar, but tail is a little shorter and head is more rounded; voice is different.
• The Gulf Coast form of Boat-tailed Grackle, the form most likely to be in the range of great-tailed, has dark eyes.

Sound

Song a loud series of harsh rattles interspersed with whistling notes and other noises.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeding range expanding northward. Breeds from the Mexican border and the Gulf Coast northward to central California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, southern Nebraska, and western Missouri, and locally in western and central Iowa. Also throughout lowlands of Central America and northern South America.

Winter Range

Winters in most of breeding range, but leaves the most northern locations.

Habitat

Open areas with scattered trees and nearby water, including pastures, agricultural areas, mangroves, and urban and suburban areas.

Food

Insects, other invertebrates, tadpoles, lizards, small fish, and plant material. Some eggs and bird nestlings.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages in flocks with other blackbirds. Sexes may forage in separate flocks. Follows tractors to get exposed food.

Displays

Display of males conspicuous. Male fans tail, fluffs up the body feathers, extends the wings, and makes loud series of calls (song). Head-up aggressive display used to other grackles by both sexes, but especially by territorial males.

Other Behavior

Males hold territories that contain nests of several females. Males will protect young from predators, but otherwise provide no parental care.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Cup-shaped nest of woven plant material is suspended from small upright branches of trees, shrubs, or rushes. Will use human-made objects for nest site.

Egg Description

Bright blue to pale bluish gray, scrawled with dark markings, heaviest at large end.

Clutch Size

Usually 3-4 eggs. Range: 1-5.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse gray down.

Conservation Status

Uses human-modified habitats and has expanded its range. Populations have been increasing in all parts of range. Considered a pest species because it damages some crops.

Other Names

Quiscale à longue queue (French)
Zanate mexicano, Sanate/Clarinero (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Johnson, K., and B. D. Peer. 2001. Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus). In The Birds of North America, No. 576 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.