Grackle

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Common grackle Grackle in my garden.jpg
Common grackle

Grackle is the common name of any of 11 passerine birds (10 extant and one extinct) native to North and South America. They belong to various genera in the icterid family. In all the species with this name, adult males have black or mostly black plumage.

Sometimes members of the starling family have historically been called grackles. Tristram's starling is sometimes known as "Tristram's grackle", and the hill mynas in the genus Gracula have also been called grackles.

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Starling Family of birds

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas as well as North America, Hawaii and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitats with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the common starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific, the common myna is indeed common.

<i>Quiscalus</i> Genus of birds

The avian genus Quiscalus contains seven of the 11 species of grackles, gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family. They are native to North and South America.

Common grackle Species of bird

The common grackle is a large icterid found in large numbers through much of North America. First described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, the common grackle has three subspecies. Adult common grackles have a long and dark bill, pale yellow eyes, and a long tail. Adults often have an iridescent appearance on their head, especially males. Common grackles are found in much of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

Tristram may refer to:

Boat-tailed grackle Species of bird

The boat-tailed grackle is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found as a permanent resident on the coasts of the Southeastern United States.

Carib grackle Species of bird

The Carib grackle is a New World tropical blackbird, a resident breeder in the Lesser Antilles and northern South America east of the Andes, from Colombia east to Venezuela and northeastern Brazil. There are eight subspecies, of which the most widespread is the nominate subspecies of Trinidad and the South American mainland. This subspecies was introduced to Tobago in 1905 and is now common there.

Great-tailed grackle Species of bird in North America

The great-tailed grackle or Mexican grackle is a medium-sized, highly social passerine bird native to North and South America. A member of the family Icteridae, it is one of 10 extant species of grackle and is closely related to the boat-tailed grackle and the extinct slender-billed grackle. In the southern United States, it is sometimes simply referred to as "blackbird" or (erroneously) "crow" due to its glossy black plumage, and similarly it is often called cuervo ("raven") in some parts of Mexico, although it is not a member of the crow genus Corvus, nor even of the family Corvidae.

Hoopoe starling Extinct species of crested starling from RĂ©union Island

The hoopoe starling, also known as the Réunion starling or Bourbon crested starling, is a species of starling that lived on the Mascarene island of Réunion and became extinct in the 1850s. Its closest relatives were the also-extinct Rodrigues starling and Mauritius starling from nearby islands, and the three apparently originated in south-east Asia. The bird was first mentioned during the 17th century and was long thought to be related to the hoopoe, from which its name is derived. Some affinities have been proposed, but it was confirmed as a starling in a DNA study.

Tristrams starling Species of bird

Tristram's starling or Tristram's grackle, is a species of starling native to the Middle East. Its territory is in the areas of Israel, Jordan, northeastern Egypt, western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman, nesting mainly on rocky cliff faces. The species is named after Reverend Henry Baker Tristram, who also collected natural history specimens.

Greater Antillean grackle Species of bird

The Greater Antillean grackle 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. It lives largely in heavily settled areas. It is also known as the 'kling-kling' and 'chinchilín' in the Dominican Republic, as a 'Ching Ching' in the Cayman Island and as a ‘chango’ in Puerto Rico.

Nicaraguan grackle Species of bird

The Nicaraguan grackle is a species of passerine bird belonging to the genus Quiscalus, a genus of grackles in the New World blackbird family, Icteridae. It is found only in Nicaragua and northernmost Costa Rica.

Slender-billed grackle Extinct species of bird

The slender-billed grackle was a species of grackle in the Icteridae family of birds. The species was closely related to the western clade of the great-tailed grackle, from which it diverged quite recently, around 2,000 years ago.

Short-tailed hawk Species of bird

The short-tailed hawk is an American bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles and Old World vultures. As a member of the genus Buteo, it is not a true hawk and thus also referred to as a "buteo" or "buzzard". The white-throated hawk is a close relative and was formerly included in the species B. brachyurus.