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austringer — Male Great-Tailed Grackle I
Published: 2011-10-09 19:53:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 385; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 25
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Description
Great-Tailed Grackle(Quiscalus mexicanus)
Family: Icteridae
This guy was a very pretty male grackle that ~scarlettfox and I... *ahem*... bribed into modeling for our cameras. We snapped a lot of pictures of him and a lady grackle.
Yes, grackles are something of a nuisance species around here, but I can't help loving the little buggers.
Oh, you'll note that I included the taxonomic family of the grackle at the top of my description. This is because I want to point out that grackles ARE NOT CROWS. They are only distantly related to crows. Crows are in the family Corvidae. Icteridae is the family that includes blackbirds, meadowlarks, and oropendolas. Icteridae and Corvidae are both in the order Passeriformes, but that's not a huge degree of relation, especially in such a massive order. For a little perspective, consider that both the domestic house cat and the elephant seal are in order Carnivora.
TL;DR: grackles are not crows, so do not call them crows or else I will attack you with science.
photo (c) M. Amber Bayles
See my journal for my rules.
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