The Greater Antillean grackle (''Quiscalus niger'') is a
grackle
Grackles is the common name of any of 11 passerine birds (10 extant and one extinct) native to North and South America. They belong to various genera in the icterid family. In all the species with this name, adult males have black or mostly blac ...
found throughout the
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles ( es, Grandes Antillas or Antillas Mayores; french: Grandes Antilles; ht, Gwo Zantiy; jam, Grieta hAntiliiz) is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and ...
as well as smaller, nearby islands. Like all ''Quiscalus'' grackles, it is a rather large,
gregarious
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies.
Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...
bird.
[ It lives largely in heavily settled areas. ]
Names
It is known as the 'kling-kling' and 'chinchilín' in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
, as 'ching ching' in the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
and as a ‘chango’ in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. Most local names seem to derive from onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
c descriptions of the bird's calls.
Taxonomy
The Irish physician, naturalist and collector Hans Sloane
Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...
stayed in Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
between 1687 and 1689. During his visit, he collected specimens and made notes on the plants and animals. Based on these notes, the ornithologist John Ray
John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...
published a short description of the Greater Antillean grackle in 1713, using the Latin name ''Monedula tota nigra'' but it was not until 1725, more than 35 years after his visit, that Sloane himself published a description of the grackle. He reported that it was common on the road between St. Jago de la Vega (Spanish Town
Spanish Town ( jam, label=Jamaican Creole, Panish Tong) is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and British capital of Jamaica from 1534 until 1872. Th ...
) and Passage-Fort ( Portmore).
In 1775 the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste.
His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent Fr ...
described the Greater Antillean grackle in his '' Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist.
Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially ornithology. Notable in particular are those for ''l'Ornithologia, sive Synop ...
in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton
Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist.
Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to su ...
to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert
Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and natural history, naturalist.
Early life, family and education
Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D ...
coined the binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Oriolus niger'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. Buffon's specimen was probably collected in the French colony of Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
which occupied the western end of what is now Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
. In 1921 the American ornithologist James L. Peters
James Lee Peters (August 13, 1889 – April 19, 1952) was an American ornithologist.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Austin Peters and Francis Howie Lee on August 13, 1889. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School, followe ...
restricted the type locality to Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
in Haiti.
The Greater Antillean grackle is now one of seven species placed in the genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''Quiscalus
The Bird, avian genus ''Quiscalus'' contains seven of the 11 species of grackles, gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family. They are native to North America, North and South America.
The genus was named and described by French ornitholog ...
'' (six extant and one extinct), that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot
Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist.
Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collecte ...
in 1816. The genus name is from the specific name ''Gracula quiscula'' coined by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
for the common grackle; the specific ''niger'' is Latin for "black".
There are seven subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
, each restricted to one island or island group.[ They differ in body size, bill size, and colour tone.
* ''Q. n. niger'' – (]Boddaert
Pieter Boddaert (1730 – 6 May 1795) was a Dutch physician and natural history, naturalist.
Early life, family and education
Boddaert was the son of a Middelburg jurist and poet by the same name (1694–1760). The younger Pieter obtained his M.D ...
, 1783): the nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
, found on Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...
(Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
* ''Q. n. caribaeus'' – (Todd
Todd or Todds may refer to:
Places
;Australia:
* Todd River, an ephemeral river
;United States:
* Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community
* Todd, Missouri, a ghost town
* Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...
, 1916): found in western Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and on Isla de Juventud
Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Islan ...
* ''Q. n. gundlachii'' – Cassin, 1867: found in central and eastern Cuba
* ''Q. n. caymanensis'' – Cory
As a given name, Cory is used by both males and females. It is a variation of the name Cora, which has Greek origins and is the maiden name of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in ...
, 1886: found on Grand Cayman Island
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles (1 ...
* ''Q. n. bangsi'' – ( Peters, JL, 1921): found on Little Cayman Island
* ''Q. n. crassirostris'' – Swainson, 1838: found in Jamaica
* ''Q. n. brachypterus'' – Cassin, 1867: found in Puerto Rico
Description
The -long male
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...
is glossy black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
with a large rudder-like tail; the -long female
Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gamet ...
has a smaller tail and is similar in color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
, but less glossy than the male. The eye is yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...
and is the only non-black body part.
The Greater Antillean grackle is a generalist eater; it eats fruits, bread, plant matter, and both small vertebrates and invertebrates alike.
Gallery
File:Greater Antillean Grackle.jpg, Adult
File:Greater Antillean Grackle in PR.jpg, In San Juan, Puerto Rico
File:Quiscalus niger -Ciego de Avila Province, Cuba-8 (3).jpg, In Cuba
File:Greater Antillean Grackle (Quiscalus niger) RWD.jpg, In Puerto Rico
File:Greater Antillean Grackle RWD3.jpg, In Jamaica
File:Greater antillean grackle (Quiscalus niger crassirostris).jpg, In Jamaica
See also
* Fauna of Puerto Rico
The fauna of Puerto Rico is similar to other island archipelago faunas, with high endemism, and low, skewed taxonomic diversity. Bats are the only extant native terrestrial mammals in Puerto Rico. All other terrestrial mammals in the area were in ...
* List of Puerto Rican birds
This is a list of the bird species recorded in the archipelago of Puerto Rico, which consists of the main island of Puerto Rico, two island municipalities off the east coast (Vieques and Culebra), three uninhabited islands off the west coast ( M ...
* List of Vieques birds
This is a list of birds recorded in the island of Vieques. Vieques is an island municipality of Puerto Rico located off the east coast of the main island of Puerto Rico, south of Culebra island and west of the Virgin Islands. It has a total ar ...
References
External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q577270
Greater Antillean Grackle
The Greater Antillean grackle (''Quiscalus niger'') is a grackle found throughout the Greater Antilles as well as smaller, nearby islands. Like all ''Quiscalus'' grackles, it is a rather large, gregarious bird. It lives largely in heavily settl ...
Birds of the Greater Antilles
Endemic birds of the Caribbean
Birds of the Dominican Republic
Birds of Haiti
Greater Antillean grackle
The Greater Antillean grackle (''Quiscalus niger'') is a grackle found throughout the Greater Antilles as well as smaller, nearby islands. Like all ''Quiscalus'' grackles, it is a rather large, gregarious bird. It lives largely in heavily settl ...
Greater Antillean grackle
The Greater Antillean grackle (''Quiscalus niger'') is a grackle found throughout the Greater Antilles as well as smaller, nearby islands. Like all ''Quiscalus'' grackles, it is a rather large, gregarious bird. It lives largely in heavily settl ...