Quiscalus mexicanus
The Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) is a large, charismatic songbird renowned for its striking appearance and boisterous presence across much of the Americas. Males are conspicuous, measuring 38-46 cm (15-18 inches) in length, with a wingspan of 48-58 cm (19-23 inches) and weighing 100-250 grams. They display shimmering, iridescent black plumage that flashes purple, blue, and green in sunlight, alongside piercing bright yellow eyes and a distinctively long, V-shaped keel-like tail....
Great-tailed Grackles thrive in open habitats, particularly urban and suburban environments, agricultural fields, parks, and open woodlands, almost always in close proximity to water sources at low to moderate elevations.
These omnivorous birds consume a wide variety of food, including insects, spiders, small vertebrates like lizards and fish, bird eggs and nestlings, grains, seeds, fruits, and readily scavenge human refuse and carrion. They primarily forage on the ground, but also glean from vegetation and aquati...
Highly diurnal, Great-tailed Grackles are active from dawn to dusk, often forming large, noisy communal roosts in trees or artificial structures outside the breeding season, sometimes numbering in the thousands. Their foraging strategies are opportunistic and diverse, including ground-probing for...
The Great-tailed Grackle's range spans from the southwestern and south-central United States, through Mexico and Central America, extending into northern South America as far south as Colombia and Venezuela. In the U.S., they are resident year-round across much of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Ari...
Least Concern
- The Great-tailed Grackle has undergone one of the most dramatic range expansions of any North American bird in the last century, moving rapidly northward and eastward. - They are considered among the most intelligent bird species, exhibiting complex problem-solving abilities and, rarely, observ...