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Great-tailed Grackle

Quiscalus mexicanusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Blackbirds and Orioles (Icteridae)

Great-tailed Grackle Portrait
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General

Great-tailed Grackle: Large blackbird with iridescent black body and purple sheen. Eyes are yellow. Tail is long and keeled. Female is smaller with shorter tail, brown upperparts, gray-brown underparts, and yellow-green eyes. Juvenile is similar to female but has dark eyes.

Range and Habitat

Great-tailed Grackle: Resident from California, Colorado, Kansas, and western Louisiana southward. Preferred habitats include open areas with scattered trees, cultivated areas, marshes, parks, and areas around human habitation.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"may-ree, may-ree"

Interesting Facts

 The Great-tailed Grackle has been expanding its range in North America throughout the last century.

 It took advantage of urbanization and irrigation to move northward from Mexico into much of western United States.

 It and the Boat-tailed Grackle have at times been considered the same species. Current thinking is that they are closely related, but different species.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Great-tailed Grackle
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Orioles and Blackbirds (Icteridae)_blue
Species Quiscalus mexicanus
Length10.5 - 18.5 Inches
Wingspan13.5 - 25 Inches

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle: Large blackbird, iridescent black body and purple sheen. Yellow eyes. Long, keeled tail. Walks on ground, wades in water to forage. Eats snails, insects, frogs, shrimp, small fish and birds, eggs and young of other birds, fruits, berries, seeds and grains. Strong direct flight.

● Song: "may-ree, may-ree"

● Foraging & Feeding: Great-tailed Grackle: Feeds on insects, worms, small vertebrates (including tadpoles, small fish, and lizards), plant matter, and garbage. Forages while walking on the ground and wading in water; also steals food from other birds.

● Breeding & nesting: Great-tailed Grackle: Three to four light blue to gray eggs with red purple markings are laid in a nest made of grass, bark, and weeds, and built in a palm or shade tree near water. Incubation ranges from 13 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Great-tailed Grackle: Boat-tailed Grackle is usually dark-eyed.

Flight Pattern

Strong swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings.
Great-tailed Grackle Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Great-tailed Grackle: Resident from California, Colorado, Kansas, and western Louisiana southward. Preferred habitats include open areas with scattered trees, cultivated areas, marshes, parks, and areas around human habitation.
BreedingPolygamous, Colonial
Population
MigrationSome migrate
Weight6.7 Ounces