Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus): Backyard Guide & Identification | BackyardBird.org
Wild Bird Atlas • North America

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle — The Keel Tail (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Keel Tail
The Great Tail • Wikimedia Commons
Great-tailed Grackle Video Study 1
▶ Video 1
▶
Watch: The Tail Display (Video 1)
Great-tailed Grackle — The Iridescent Male (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Iridescent Male
Purple-Blue Gloss • Wikimedia Commons
Great-tailed Grackle Video Study 2
▶ Video 2
▶
Watch: Calls & Behavior (Video 2)
Great-tailed Grackle — The Yellow Eye (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Yellow Eye
The Piercing Stare • Wikimedia Commons
Great-tailed Grackle — The Brown Female (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Brown Female
Half His Size • Wikimedia Commons
Great-tailed Grackle — The Urban Flock (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Urban Flock
Parking Lot Life • Wikimedia Commons

Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus): Complete Identification, Habitat Guide & Sound Library

Written by Avian Biology Editorial Team • Updated: October 2026 • Verified Backyard Field Data • Regional Hub: Featured in the Texas Backyard Birds Guide
Field Summary

Quick Answer: How to Attract & Identify the Great-tailed Grackle

The Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) is the big iridescent showman of the Southwest — the male glossy purple-black with a piercing yellow eye and an enormous keel-shaped tail; the female half his size and warm brown. The voice is a wild repertoire of whistles, clacks, and electronic squeals. It thrives in towns, parks, and marshes and is expanding its range northward. At feeders it takes corn, sunflower, and suet on platforms — manage with weight-sensitive feeders if flocks dominate. They share the lot with the Common Grackle and the Brewer’s Blackbird.

Species Physical Profile & Morphometrics

The Great-tailed Grackle belongs to the blackbird family (Icteridae) and is a southwestern native expanding rapidly — from Texas and the Southwest into the Great Plains and up the California coast.

The identification formula: big male with keel tail + yellow eye + iridescent purple gloss. The Common Grackle is smaller and shorter-tailed and lives east; the Boat-tailed Grackle is coastal Gulf and Atlantic with a rounder eye and duller gloss. Females are warm brown and half the male’s size.

Essential Morphometric Field Marks:

  • Body Length & Mass: Males 15 to 18.1 inches (38–46 cm) and 3.7 to 6.7 ounces (105–190 grams) — females are half the size at 12 to 15 inches.
  • Wingspan: 18.9 to 22.8 inches (48–58 cm); flight is strong and level, the great tail trailing like a rudder.
  • Bill Structure & Color: A long, heavy black dagger bill — omnivore hardware for grain, insects, eggs, and fries.
  • Color Pattern: Male — iridescent purple-blue-black with yellow eye; female — warm brown above, buff below, same yellow eye.
  • Male vs. Female: The most size-dimorphic blackbird — he is twice her bulk, iridescent where she is brown; both carry the yellow eye.
Adult Male

The parking-lot peacock: tail spread in a great fan, head thrown back, blasting a rising whistle that rattles the strip mall.

Adult Female

Half his size, warm brown — she weaves the nest in marsh vegetation or a park tree and raises the brood on insects and scavenged plenty.

Great-tailed Grackle Vocalization Guide (3 Field Recordings)

The Great-tailed Grackle’s voice is a wild repertoire — clear rising whistles, clacks, squeals, and electronic crackles. All recordings below are real field audio via Wikimedia Commons — no simulations. For a deeper library, browse xeno-canto: Great-tailed Grackle.

1. The Rising Whistle

The display call
The clear, rising whistle — the signature sound of southwestern parking lots, delivered with tail spread and head high. Recording: Niels Krabbe (xeno-canto XC243016 via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0.

2. The Electronic Squeal

The crackle repertoire
The squeals and crackles — mechanical, almost electronic notes woven through the display sequence. Recording: Niels Krabbe (xeno-canto XC243017 via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0.

3. The Flock Chorus

Roost noise at dusk
The roost chorus — hundreds of birds whistling and clacking in a single tree line at sunset, a wall of sound. Recording: Niels Krabbe (xeno-canto XC243018 via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Habitat, Range & the Great Expansion

The Great-tailed Grackle lives in wetlands, parks, towns, and farmland across the Southwest — and expands yearly, following irrigation, lawns, and fast food north and west from its Mexican heartland.

Great-tailed Grackle range map (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Range across the Southwest, expanding north and west. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Bird That Follows the Sprinklers

Range centers on Texas, the Southwest, and Mexico, but breeding birds now reach the Great Plains, Colorado, and coastal California — one of North America’s fastest range expansions.

For backyard birders: southwestern yards are already grackle country — platform feeders, lawns, and water features all draw them; management, not attraction, is the usual question.

Seasonal Advisory: Great-tailed Grackles dominate open feeders and can mob nests — they eat eggs and nestlings of other birds. Use weight-sensitive or caged feeders for songbirds, avoid scattering grain on the ground, and never feed them intentionally near nesting colonies of marsh birds.

Backyard Behavioral Patterns & Social Dynamics

The Great-tailed Grackle is an opportunist with a peacock streak. Four behaviors explain most of what you will observe:

🦚 The Tail Display

The male displays with tail spread, wings drooped, and head skyward — the full peacock routine on a parking lot stage.

🍟 The Omnivore

It eats everything — grain, insects, fish, eggs, nestlings, and unattended fries — the ultimate southwestern opportunist.

🌆 The Urban Roost

Flocks of hundreds to thousands roost in town trees — a nightly wall of whistles at sunset.

🧭 The Expansion

The species marches north and west every decade — irrigation and suburbia pave its way.

Problem: “How Do I Manage Great-tailed Grackles? What Should I Do?”

The three most common Great-tailed Grackle puzzles all have proven answers:

First, the feeder takeover: grackles empty open feeders and intimidate songbirds — switch to weight-sensitive or caged feeders, serve safflower (they dislike it), and stop scattering seed on the ground. Second, the roost noise: dusk roosts are loud but seasonal — they shift with the weeks; wait them out rather than harassing a protected native bird. Third, the nest predation worry: grackles do take eggs and nestlings — keep them from dominating by never feeding them deliberately during songbird nesting season, and let the marsh edges stay wild and defended.

Method 1: Set the Table — Songbird Feeders, Grackle-Resistant

Design feeding for the birds you want to keep:

  1. Use Weight-Sensitive Feeders

    Perch-closing mechanisms — grackle weight shuts the port; chickadees feed on.

  2. Serve Safflower

    Grackles dislike safflower — cardinals and finches take it happily.

  3. Stop Ground Scatter

    No seed on the ground or open trays — open platforms are grackle buffets.

  4. Feed Suet in Cages

    Caged suet feeders — woodpeckers in, grackles out.

Method 2: Understand the Bird — Native, Expanding & Loud

Management aside, this is a native success story worth watching:

  1. Learn the Displays

    Tail fan, sky-point, whistle — the spring display is world-class street theater.

  2. Watch the Expansion

    New records every year — your sighting may be a county first in the northern states.

  3. Expect the Seasonal Shift

    Roosts form and dissolve with the seasons — a loud block this month is quiet next.

  4. Keep Them Wild

    Never hand-feed — habituated grackles become parking-lot beggars and nest predators.

Tool Solution: Recommended Hardware for Great-tailed Grackle

Equipment matched to life with a big grackle:

Primary Control

Weight-Sensitive Feeder

Perch-closing feeders — the songbirds eat; the grackle’s own weight shuts the door.

  • • Feature: Adjustable weight
  • • Effect: Grackle-resistant
  • • Bonus: Squirrel control too
The Alternative Seed

Safflower

Bitter to grackles, beloved by cardinals — the peace treaty in seed form.

  • • Feed: Safflower
  • • Users: Cardinals & finches
  • • Decliners: Grackles & starlings
The Protected Suet

Caged Suet Feeder

Wire cage around the suet cake — woodpeckers and nuthatches pass, grackles bounce off.

  • • Feature: Wire cage
  • • Users: Woodpeckers
  • • Bonus: Weather protection

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you identify a Great-tailed Grackle? +
A huge blackbird: the male iridescent purple-black with a piercing yellow eye and an enormous keel-shaped tail as long as his body; the female half his size, warm brown, with the same yellow eye. Common Grackles are smaller and shorter-tailed; Boat-tailed Grackles are Gulf and Atlantic coastal. In the Southwest, the great tail settles it.
What does a Great-tailed Grackle sound like? +
A wild repertoire — clear rising whistles, clacks, squeals, and almost electronic crackles — delivered in display with the tail spread. Roosting flocks at dusk produce a wall of whistling noise audible for blocks.
What do Great-tailed Grackles eat? +
Nearly everything — grain, seeds, insects, small fish, eggs and nestlings of other birds, and human handouts. At feeders they take corn, sunflower, and suet from open platforms. Manage with weight-sensitive feeders, safflower seed, and no ground scatter to keep songbirds fed alongside.
Are Great-tailed Grackles invasive? +
No — they are native North Americans undergoing one of the continent’s fastest natural range expansions, spreading north and west from Mexico and Texas along irrigation and suburbia. They are protected native birds, unlike starlings and House Sparrows, though their boldness at feeders often needs management.
How do I keep Great-tailed Grackles off my feeders? +
Switch to weight-sensitive or caged feeders that close under a grackle’s bulk, serve safflower seed which they dislike, stop scattering seed on the ground or open trays, cage your suet, and never hand-feed them. Their dusk roosts are loud but seasonal — they move on their own within weeks.
Key Takeaways
  • Species Profile: The Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) is a 15–18.1 inch, 3.7–6.7 ounce icterid (Icteridae), band code GTGR — the parking-lot peacock.
  • ID in One Look: Huge keel tail, yellow eye, iridescent purple gloss; female half-sized and brown.
  • The Sound: Rising whistles, clacks, and electronic squeals; real field recordings above.
  • Range & Habit: Southwestern native expanding fast; towns, parks, and marshes.
  • Feeder Formula: Weight-sensitive feeders and safflower — manage, do not surrender.
  • The Expansion Story: Following sprinklers and suburbs northward — your sighting may be a county record.

Backyard Bird Watching Field Observation Sheet

Large-print field notebook format designed for American seniors. Print or download as a 1-page PDF.

Great-tailed Grackle Avatar

Bird Watching Log

Species: Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

DATE: LOCATION:
TIME: OBSERVERS:
KIND OF BIRD: Great-tailed Grackle (Keel Tail Seen: Yes / No — Yellow Eye Seen: Yes / No — Rising Whistle Heard: Yes / No — Feeder Managed: Yes / No — Date & Time: ___)
SEASON
WEATHER
Sunny ☀️ Partly Cloudy ⛅ Overcast ☁️ Windy 💨 Rain 🌧 Snow ❄️ Storm ⛈️
DESCRIPTION
Main Color:
Secondary Color:
Eye Color:
Beak / Bill:
Wings:
Tail:
Body / Breast:
Voice / Calls:
Flock Size:
Habitat / Feeder:
PHOTO / SKETCH / FIELD NOTES
Paste photo or sketch pose here
📷
Feeder behavior notes or plumage sketch
BackyardBird.org • Backyard Bird Watching Field Guide & Journal