Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris)

Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris (Swainson, 1838))

Scientific name: Quiscalus lugubris (Swainson, 1838)
Common name: Carib Grackle
French name: Quiscale merle
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Icteridae
Size: Body size: 24 to 28 cm; Weight: 70 to 100 g; Females are slightly smaller than males.
Habitat: Open or semi-open environments, sparse woods, woodland edges, maquis, parks and gardens, even in urban areas.
Food: Insects, berries and seeds, small lizards, crabs, amphibians, snails. They may also raid the nests of other birds to feed on eggs or chicks.
Nesting: Carib Grackles perform courtship displays by raising their tail, spreading the wings and puffing out the plumage. They often nest in small colonies. Females build a large, rough cup-shaped nest halfway up a tree. There is usually a clutch of 2-4 eggs.
Migration: Sedentary.
Geographic area: Lesser Antilles, northern South America east of the Andes, eastern Colombia to Venezuela and north-eastern Brazil.

The Carib Grackle shows an important sexual dimorphism.
Males have a glossy black plumage with steel blue or green metallic sheen.
The tail is long and wedge-shaped with a distinctly V-shaped tip.
The eye is light yellow. The long black bill is slightly curved downwards.
Females are grey-brown with a shorter tail. Their colour varies according to the subspecies (there are 10 of them).
Females of the Quiscalus lugubris guadeloupensis subspecies found in Guadeloupe and Martinique are light grey below and medium grey above.
Juveniles are similar to females but with black irises. It is light yellow on adult females.

Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris) - Martinique, France - April 14th 2018

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