Greater Antillean grackle
Greater Antillean grackle | |
---|---|
Q. n. gundlachii, Cayo Coco, Cuba | |
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 color 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
- In San Juan, Puerto Rico
- In Cuba
- In Puerto Rico
- In Jamaica
- In Jamaica
See also
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Quiscalus niger". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ Bond, James (1993). Birds of the West Indies (fifth ed.). Houghton-Mifflin. ISBN 978-0618002108.
- ↑ 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
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Quiscalus niger. |
Wikispecies has information related to: Quiscalus niger |
- BirdLife species factsheet for Quiscalus niger
- "Greater Antillean grackle media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Greater Antillean grackle photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Greater Antillean grackle species account at NeotropicalBirds (Cornell University)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.