Species: Quiscalus quiscula

Common Grackle

Species

Birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Icteridae

Genus

Quiscalus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105697

Classification

Other Global Common Names

quiscale bronzé

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Icteridae - Quiscalus - zone between the two phenotypes).

Ecology and Life History

Migration

true - true - true - Northern interior breeding populations make the longest migrations. Arrives in northern U.S., western states, and Canada mid-March to early April (Terres 1980).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Eats various invertebrates, grain, seeds, fruits, sometimes small vertebrates and bird eggs; forages on ground, in shrubs and trees, and in shallow water (Terres 1980). In North Dakota, insects dominate the diet in spring; grains increased in the diet in summer and dominated the diet in late summer and early fall (1994, Am. Midl. Nat. 131:381-385).

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size 4-7 (commonly 5-6). Sometimes 2 broods per year. Incubation 12-14 days, by female. Young tended by both sexes, leave nest at 10-17 days, remain in nest vicinity 2-3 days. Nests usually in loose colonies.

Ecology Comments

Roosts communally in large flocks (sometimes >100,000 individuals), in summer and fall in northeastern U.S.; often with starlings (Caccamise et al. 1983). Mean dispersal distance 21 kilometers for males, 15 kilometers for females (Moore and Dolbeer 1989).

Length

Weight

127

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-04

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-04

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

BREEDS: northeastern British Columbia and southern Mackenzie to Newfoundland, south to southern Texas, Gulf Coast, and southern Florida, west to Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. WINTERS: Kansas, southern Great Lakes region, New England and Nova Scotia south to southeastern New Mexico, south Texas, Gulf Coast, Florida.

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105697