Quiscalus major

• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Ecology: List of Habitats : 5.4 Wetlands (inland) - Bogs , Marshes, Swamps , Fens , Peatlands

Biology

Diet

Mostly: Insects Plant Matter

Lesser Quantities of: Aquatic Invertebrates Reptiles or Amphibians

Reproduction

• Breeding Habitat : Wetland-open water
• Nest Location: Mid-story/canopy nesting
• Nest Type: Open-cup
• Clutch Size: 3-4
• Length of Incubation : 13-15 days
• Days to Fledge : 12-15
• Number of Broods: 2, occasionally 3

Migration

Northern birds migrate

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001.

Similar Species

Great-Tailed Grackle

Members of the genus Quiscalus

There are approximately 42 species in this genus:

Q. assimilis · Q. guiscula · Q. inflexirostris · Q. lugubris (Carib Grackle) · Q. lugubris contrusus · Q. lugubris fortirostris · Q. lugubris guadeloupensis · Q. lugubris inflexirostris · Q. lugubris lugubris (Carib Grackle) · Q. lugubris luminosus · Q. macrurus · Q. major (Boat-Tailed Crow Blackbird) · Q. major alabamensis · Q. major major (Boat-Tailed Crow Blackbird) · Q. major torreyi · Q. major westoni · Q. mexicanus (Great-Tailed Crow Blackbird) · Q. mexicanus loweryi · Q. mexicanus mexicanus (Great-Tailed Crow Blackbird) · Q. mexicanus monsoni · Q. mexicanus nelsoni · Q. mexicanus obscurus · Q. mexicanus peruvianus · Q. mexicanus prosopidicola · Q. nicaraguensis (Nicaraguan Grackle) · Q. niger (Greater Antillean Grackle) · Q. niger bangsi · Q. niger brachypterus · Q. niger caribaeus · Q. niger caymanensis · Q. niger crassirostris · Q. niger gundlachii · Q. niger niger (Greater Antillean Grackle) · Q. palustris (Slender-Billed Grackle) · Q. quiscala · Q. quiscula (Florida Crow Blackbird) · Q. quiscula aeneus · Q. quiscula areneus · Q. quiscula quiscula (Florida Crow Blackbird) · Q. quiscula stonei · Q. quiscula versicolor · Q. versicolor

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A check list of North American birds. Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1882. ENG url p. 149, p. 65.
• A history of North American birds, by S.F. Baird, T.M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. Land birds, illustrated by 64 chromo-lithographic plates and 593 woodcuts. Boston, Little, Brown, 1875. ENG url p. 222, p. 225, p. 233.
• A manual of the ornithology of the United States and of Canada. By Thomas Nuttall Cambridge, Hilliard and Brown, 1832-1834. ENG url p. 677.
• A popular handbook of the birds of the United States and Canada, by Thomas Nuttall. Boston, Little, Brown, 1903. ENG url p. 114, p. 426.
• A popular handbook of the ornithology of eastern North America. By Thomas Nuttall. Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1896. ENG url p. 114, p. 426.
• A review of the birds of Connecticut. By C. Hart Merriam. New Haven, Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor, Printers, 1877. ENG url p. 146, p. 161, p. 48.
• Alsop, Fred J. III. Birds of North America - Eastern Region. First American Edition. Smithsonian Handbooks. DK Publishing, Inc. 2001.
• American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States: illustrated with plates engraved from drawings from nature / by Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucian Bonaparte. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, [1878?] ENG url p. 174, p. 178.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. ENG url p. 574.
• Archiv für Naturgeschichte. Berlin: Nicolai, 1835- GER url p. 122, p. 37, p. 421, p. 78, p. 93.
• Asteroid notes. Northfield, Minn, Goodsell Observatory of Carleton College, 1934-1950. ENG url p. 399.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes 2003. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner 1987. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C., USA. 79.
• BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.
• BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
• Birds in their relations to man; a manual of economic ornithology for the United States and Canada / by Clarence M. Weed and Ned Dearborn. Philadelphia; Lippincott, 1916. ENG url p. 346.
• Birds of the Colorado Valley: a repository of scientific and popular information concerning North American ornithology / by Elliott Coues. Washington: G.P.O., 1878. ENG url p. 609, p. 705, p. 734.
• Birds of the Northwest: a hand-book of the ornithology of the region drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries / by Elliott Coues. Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1874. ENG url p. 204.
• Birds. With the co-operation of John Cassin and George N. Lawrence. Washington, D.C., 1858. ENG url p. 554, p. 555, p. 557.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 233, p. 238, p. 239, p. 240, p. 241, p. 242, p. 243, p. 28, p. 318, p. 416, p. 457, p. 59, p. 61, p. 64, p. 71.
• Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles et de Geologie. Paris. url p. 100.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: BM(NH) ENG url p. 222, p. 233.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, ENG url p. 238, p. 295, p. 370, p. 371, p. 393.
• Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge, Mass.: The Club, [1876-1883] ENG url p. 114, p. 45, p. 83.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. by Charles E. Hellmayr. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1937. ENG url p. 88, p. 89, p. 91.
• Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. London, 1874-98. ENG url p. 395, p. 396, p. 397.
• Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum / By E. W. Oates [and afterwards] by S. G. Reid [and] W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. London, 1901-12. ENG url p. 399.
• Check-list of North American birds: according to the canons of nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. [s.l.]: The Union, 1889. ENG url p. 45.
• Die Abstammung des Menschen und die geschlechtliche Zuchtwahl. Von Charles Darwin. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von J. Victor Carus. Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagshandlung, 1871. GER url p. 274.
• Ehrlich, P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye, D. (1988). The Birders Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. (info on clutch size, length of incubation, days to fledge and number of broods.)
• FWS/0BS. [Washington]Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. ENG url p. 139, p. 141.
• Field ornithology. Comprising a manual of instruction for procuring, preparing and preserving birds, and a check list of North American birds, by Elliott Coues. Salem [Mass.]Naturalists' Agency, 1874. ENG url p. 47.
• Foreign birds for cage and aviary. By Arthur G. Butler. London, "The Feathered world"[191-?] ENG url p. 24.
• Guide to the gallery of birds in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum (Natural History). With 24 plates and 7 illustrations. London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1905 ENG url p. 132.
• Handbuch der zoologie: Nach der zweiten holländischen ausgabe. Leipzig: L. Voss, 1850-56. GER url p. 512.
• Ibis. [London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press. ENG url p. 128, p. 137, p. 155, p. 156, p. 157, p. 29, p. 402, p. 426.
• Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. Cincinnati: The Society, 1878/79 [i.e. 1878 or 1879]-1945. ENG url p. 57.
• Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. Chapel Hill, N.C. [etc.]Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society [etc.] ENG url p. 71.
• Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and lower California By Elliot Coues. Boston, D. Estes and Company, 1903. ENG url p. 482.
• Memoirs read before the Boston Society of Natural History. Boston[Boston Society of Natural History]1862-1878. ENG url p. 281, p. 490.
• Mittheilungen des Ornithologischen Vereines in Wien. Wien, 1877-1895. GER url p. 3.
• Natural history: a manual of zoology for schools, colleges, and the general reader / by Sanborn Tenney. New York: Charles Scribner and Co., 1865. ENG url p. 224.
• Naturalist (Morris) London. url p. 271.
• Nests and eggs of North American birds; by Oliver Davie. Columbus [O.]Hann and Adair, 1889. ENG url p. 284.
• Novitates Zoologicae. London. url p. 205.
• Ornithological bibliography. [Washington: Geological Survey [etc.], 1878-1880. ENG url p. 609, p. 612, p. 613.
• Our birds in their haunts: a popular treatise on the birds of Eastern North America / by J. Hibbert Langille. Boston, S. E. Cassino, 1884. ENG url p. 115.
• Our living resources: a report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems / [edited by], Edward T. LaRoe [et al.]. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Biological Service, 1995. ENG url p. 487.
• Pacific coast avifauna / Cooper Ornithological Club of California. Santa Clara, Calif.: The Club, 1900-1974. ENG url p. 10, p. 78, p. 93.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. [Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia] ENG url p. 25, p. 270, p. 346, p. 409, p. 410, p. 411, p. 412, p. 458, p. 597.
• Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. Boston [etc.]Boston Society of Natural History. ENG url p. 177, p. 43, p. 446, p. 9.
• Revue encyclopédique. Paris. url p. 131.
• Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Length and wingspan info.)
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. ENG url p. 11, p. 183, p. 41.
• The Great Basin naturalist. Provo, Utah, M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University. ENG url p. 725.
• The Oist. Rockville, Conn.J.M. Wade. ENG url p. 54.
• The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization, by the Baron Cuvier The Crustacea, Arachnides and Insecta, by P.A. Latreille Translated from the French, with notes and additions, by H. M'Murtrie. New York, G. and C. and H. Carvill, 1831. ENG url p. 446.
• The birds of eastern North America known to occur east of the nineteenth meridian by Charles B. Cory Chicago, Printed for the Field Columbian Museum [by A. Mudge], 1899. ENG url p. 369.
• The birds of eastern North America: known to occur east of the ninetieth meridian / by Charles B. Cory. Chicago: Field Columbian Museum, 1899. ENG url p. 369.
• The code of nomenclature and check-list of North American birds adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union; being the report of the Committee of the Union on Classification and Nomenclature. New York, 1886. ENG url p. 254.
• The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex / by Charles Darwin. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1873. ENG url p. 298, p. 404, p. 409, p. 424, p. 431.
• The ecology of delta marshes of coastal Louisiana: a community profile / by James G. Gosselink. Washington, DC: National Coastal Ecosystems Team, Division of Biological Services, Research Development, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior: 1984. ENG url p. 133.
• The oist. Albion, N.Y.: Frank H. Lattin, 1886-1941. ENG url p. 77.
• The ornithology of Illinois. Part I. Descriptive catalogue. By Robert Ridgway. Part II. Economic ornithology. By S. A. Forbes. Pub. by the authority of the state Legislature. Springfield, Ill., H. W. Rokker, printer, 1889-95. ENG url p. 324.
• Transactions - The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. New Haven: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences; distributed by Archon Books, Hamden, Conn. [etc.], 1866- ENG url p. 146, p. 147.
• Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Science and Literature. Baltimore: The Academy, 1837. ENG url p. 325, p. 379.
• Zoologischer Anzeiger. Jena, VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag. GER url p. 272, p. 285.

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 3, 2006.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 11, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 7 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 11, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Avian Knowledge Network: Project FeederWatch
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds (Aves)
• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Bird Collection
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• New Brunswick Museum: NBM birds
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3851000
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-179108
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14571264
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 179108
• IUCN ID: 54165
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABPBXB6060
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 13989

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