Fifty Birds of Town and City
Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
Length 12 inches. The Grackle breeds throughout the United States west to Texas,
Colorado, and Montana and in southern Canada and winters in the southern half of its
breeding range.
The Grackle is a beautiful blackbird that is well known from its habit of congregating in
city parks and nesting there year after year. Like other species which habitually
assemble in large flocks, it is capable of inflicting damage on farm crops. It
shares with crows and blue jays a habit of pillaging the nests of small birds, but it does
much good by destroying garden pests, especially white grubs, weevils, grasshoppers, and
caterpillars.
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