General Description: Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) are large songbirds often seen in noisy flocks in urban areas. Males are all glossy blue-black and have extremely long tails. Females have a brown body, black wings, and a black tail that is not overly exaggerated. Adults have bright yellow eyes, but the eyes of young birds are brown. The bill is long and heavy.

Taxonomy: Passeriformes, Icteridae.

Favored Habitat: Urban areas.

Where to Find: Around Las Vegas, look for Great-tailed Grackles in fast-food parking lots, grocery store parking lots, residential areas, urban parks, and rural agricultural areas.

Comments: In flight, males can fold the sides of their tail upward to form a boat-like keel. One species of grackle is even called the Boat-tailed Grackle. Sometimes it looks like the tail is turned sideways.

Notice that Great-tailed Grackle males have a bright yellow eye. This characteristic is useful for separating this species from Boat-tailed Grackles, which has a darker eye and occurs along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts.

Notice also how the tail tends to be concave upward. In flight, they actually hold the tail like a vertical rudder on an airplane