Jackdawgrackel
| Jackdawgrackel | ||||||||||||
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Male jackdaw racket |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Quiscalus mexicanus | ||||||||||||
| ( Gmelin , 1788) | ||||||||||||
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The jackdaw rackel ( Quiscalus mexicanus ) is a bird of the starch family (Icteridae). In the past, the jackdaw grackles were combined with the purple grackle ( Quiscalus quiscula ) to form one species.
Occurrence
The distribution area extends from the northeast and south of California to Arizona , New Mexico , Texas and Louisiana , south to Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to the north of South America . In recent years, the range in has North America as far as Florida extended. Jackdaws live in open areas with little trees, fields, pastures, mangroves and areas such as parks in cities and suburbs. Their habitats are often located near bodies of water.
features
Male jackdaws are very similar in appearance to the purple gracks. However, they have longer tail feathers and their shiny plumage is uniformly black to shiny blue-black. The smaller females have dull brown plumage with darker wing-coverts and tail feathers. The eyes are yellow in both sexes. Their strong legs with sharp claws are black like their beaks. The young birds have a similar plumage to the adult female jackdaws, but their eyes are dark brown.
nutrition
Jackdaws spend most of the day on the ground looking for food. With their strong legs they run or walk across the floor, they do not move forward by jumping. They feed on grains, fruits, insects , small reptiles and amphibians , but also on small fish, eggs and nestlings. In the fields they follow the tractors and combine harvesters and devour the startled insects and seeds. They are viewed by farmers as a nuisance when they invade grain fields in large groups.
Subspecies
- Quiscalus mexicanus mexicanus
- Quiscalus mexicanus nelsoni
- Quiscalus mexicanus monsoni
- Quiscalus mexicanus prosopidicola
- Quiscalus mexicanus graysoni
- Quiscalus mexicanus obscurus
- Quiscalus mexicanus loweryi
- Quiscalus mexicanus peruvianus
Web links
- Quiscalus mexicanus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 22 of 2008.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Quiscalus mexicanus in the Internet Bird Collection