The Carib grackle (''Quiscalus lugubris'') is a New World tropical blackbird, a resident breeder in the Lesser Antilles and northern South America east of the Andes, from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

east to Venezuela and northeastern Brazil. There are eight subspecies, of which the most widespread is the nominate subspecies (''Q. l. lugubris'') of Trinidad and the South American mainland. This subspecies was introduced to Tobago in 1905 and is now common there.

Description

The adult male Carib grackle is long with a long wedge-shaped tail, although the latter is not so long as other grackles. Its plumage is entirely black with a violet

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...

, its eyes are yellow, and it has a strong dark bill. The adult female is long, with a shorter tail and brown plumage, darker on the upperparts. Young males are shorter tailed than adult males and have some brown in the plumage. Young females are very similar to the adult females. The seven island subspecies differ from the nominate one in size, plumage shade (especially in the browns of the females), and vocalisations. Carib Grackle Male

Breeding

The breeding habitat is open areas, including cultivation and human habitation. This is a colonial breeder, with several deep, lined cup nests often being built in one tree. Two to four whitish eggs are laid. Incubation takes 12 days, with a further 14 days to fledging. This species is sometimes

parasitised Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

by the shiny cowbird (''Molothrus bonariensis''), but is quite successful at rejecting the eggs of that species.

Behaviour

The Carib grackle is a highly gregarious species, foraging on the ground for insects, other invertebrates, small fish, small frogs,

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

s, or scraps. It is also known to catch small bats in the air. It can become very tame and bold, entering restaurants to seek food, normally feeding on leftovers. It will form groups to attack potential predators, such as dogs, mongooses or humans, and at night it roosts colonially.

Call

The Carib grackle's song is a mixture of harsh and more musical ringing notes, with a bell-like ' and a rapid ' being typical. The calls vary in dialect between islands and the bird usually fluffs up its feathers when calling.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the Carib grackle
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1588623 Carib grackle Birds of the Lesser Antilles Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of the Guianas Carib grackle