Greater Antillean grackle

Greater Antillean grackle
Q. n. gundlachii, Cayo Coco, Cuba
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Icteridae
Genus:	Quiscalus
Species:	Q. niger
Binomial name
Quiscalus niger (Boddaert, 1783)
Range of Q. niger

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.^[2] It lives largely in heavily settled areas.

Appearance

The 27 cm (11 in) long male is glossy black with a large rudder-like tail; the 24 cm (9.4 in) long female has a smaller tail and is similar in colour but less glossy than the male. The eye is yellow and is the only non-black body part.

There are seven subspecies, each restricted to one island or island group.^[3] They differ from the nominate Q. n. niger subspecies in size, bill size, and colour tone.

• Q. n. caribaeus – (Todd, 1916): found in western Cuba and on Isle of Pines
• Q. n. gundlachii – Cassin, 1867: found in central and eastern Cuba
• Q. n. caymanensis – Cory, 1886: found on Grand Cayman Island
• Q. n. bangsi – (Peters, JL, 1921): found on Little Cayman Island
• Q. n. crassirostris – Swainson, 1838: found in Jamaica
• Q. n. niger – (Boddaert, 1783): nominate, found on Hispaniola
• Q. n. brachypterus – Cassin, 1867: found in Puerto Rico

Gallery

• 

  Adult

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  In San Juan, Puerto Rico

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  In Cuba

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  In Puerto Rico

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  In Jamaica

• 

  In Jamaica

See also

• Fauna of Puerto Rico
• List of Puerto Rican birds
• List of Vieques birds

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Quiscalus niger". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. Bond, James (1993). Birds of the West Indies (fifth ed.). Houghton-Mifflin. ISBN 978-0618002108.
3. Gill, F.; Donsker, D., eds. (2014). "IOC World Bird List". IOC World Bird List (v 4.2). doi:10.14344/IOC.ML.4.2.

External links

• BirdLife species factsheet for Quiscalus niger
• Greater Antillean grackle videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
• Greater Antillean grackle photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Greater Antillean grackle species account at NeotropicalBirds (Cornell University)

• Audio recordings of Greater Antillean grackle on Xeno-canto.