Carib Grackle - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo by Bjorn Svensson
Venezuela, January 2005

Quiscalus lugubris

Identification

Female
Photo by Tord
Guadeloupe, January 2012

24-28 cm
Male is black with a metallic sheen that is either green, violet, or steel-blue. It has a tail that is V-shaped and whitish eyes.
The female has grayish underside, darker brownish-gray upperside and a light supercilium at least on some islands, while she is darker and even can have some glossy black areas on other islands.

Male is larger than female.

Distribution

Present in the Lesser Antilles from Anguilla and south - probably introduced on some of the northern islands including Antigua and Barbuda. Outside the Caribbean, also present on Trinidad, and Eastern Colombia through Northern Venezuela (including islands such as Isla Margarita etc), the Guianas, and North-Eastern Brazil.

Taxonomy

Female or immature of a darker form
Photo by njlarsen
St. Lucia, April 2010

Subspecies^[2]

Clements Checklist mentions 8 subspecies.

• Q. l. guadeloupensis:

• Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Dominica and Martinique

• Q. l. inflexirostris:

• St. Lucia (Lesser Antilles)

• Q. l. contrusus:

• St. Vincent (Lesser Antilles)

• Q. l. luminosus:

• Lesser Antilles (Grenada, the Grenadines and Islas Los Testigos)

• Q. l. fortirostris:

• Barbados; introduced Barbuda and Antigua

• Q. l. orquillensis:

• Islas Los Hermanos (off Venezuela)

• Q. l. insularis:

• Isla Margarita and Islas Los Frailes (off Venezuela)

• Q. l. lugubris:

• North-eastern Colombia to northern Venezuela, the Guianas and north-eastern Brazil; Trinidad

According to Raffaele¹, the 5 Caribbean subspecies have different song dialects, and there is some differences in female plumage as well. Prime suspect for a future split?

Habitat

Limited to open areas, including residential.

Behaviour

Breeding

It breeds in colonies. A deep cup nest is built in a tree. The 2-4 white eggs are incubated for 12 days. The young fledge 14 days later.

Diet

The diet includes insects and invertebrates.

References

1. Raffaele et al. 1998. Birds of the West Indies. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0713649054
2. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Carib Grackle. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Carib_Grackle

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