Nicaraguan Grackle Quiscalus nicaraguensis Scientific name definitions

Nicaraguan Grackle is in fact restricted to the border region between northernmost Costa Rica and southernmost Nicaragua, where it is found around Lakes Nicaragua and Managua, as well as in cattle pastures. Indeed, with the increase in livestock in this region, the grackle’s numbers also appear to have been positively affected. This relatively small but long-legged grackle is sexually dimorphic. Males are all black with a turquoise gloss to the head, breast, and upper back, becoming purple over the rest of the body, and greenish over the wings. In contrast, females are brown above, with darker wings, and largely buff below, becoming darker brown posteriorly; there is also a pale supercilium. Both sexes have yellowish irides, and in flight the rather narrow, long, graduated tail can be fully appreciated. Like other grackle species, Nicaraguan Grackle usually forages on the ground, sometimes in the company of other icterids.

S Nicaragua (shores of L Managua and L Nicaragua) and adjacent N Costa Rica (L Caño Negro, on R Frío).