page_title: Great-tailed grackle
section_title: Behavior
hierarchical_section_title: Great-tailed grackle / Behavior
caption_attribution_description: English: A male Great-Tailed Grackle, making its distinctive call
context_page_description: 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. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as a "blackbird" in the southern United States, although blackbirds belong to other genera, such as Euphagus. Similarly, it is often called cuervo in areas of Mexico owing to its glossy black plumage, although it is not a member of the genus Corvus, nor even of the family Corvidae.
context_section_description: Great-tailed grackles communally roost in trees or the reeds of wetlands at night and, during the breeding season, they nest in territories using three different mating strategies: 1) territorial males defend their territory on which many females place their nests and raise young, 2) residential males live in the larger colony but do not defend a territory or have mates, and 3) transient males stay for a few days before leaving the colony to likely move on to another colony. Resident and transient males sire a small number of offspring through extra-pair copulations with females on territories. Territorial males are heavier and have longer tails than non-territorial males, and both of these characteristics are associated with having more offspring.
  Great-tailed grackles can solve Aesop's Fable tests - a problem involving a tube that is partially filled with water and a floating, out of reach piece of food. The problem is solved by dropping objects into the water to raise the level and bring the food within reach. They are also behaviorally flexible, changing their preferences quickly in response to changes in cognitive tasks.
caption: A male great-tailed grackle, making its distinctive call
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