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19 October 2021 An instance of hybridization with Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) and male parental care by Great-tailed Grackle (Q. mexicanus)
Alexis F. L. A. Powell, John S. Kirkley
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) and Common Grackle (Q. quiscula) are phylogenetically distant among grackles and were historically allopatric. Northward range expansion of Great-tailed Grackle and westward expansion of Common Grackle brought these species into increasing contact over the past century but has not led to notable interactions. Hybrids of Great-tailed Grackle with Boat-tailed Grackle (Q. major), Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus), and Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) have been reported, whereas hybridization of Common Grackle has never been documented with any species. We report a brood of 2 hybrid offspring of a male Great-tailed Grackle and female Common Grackle in Dillon, Montana, in 2015. For about a week after their discovery, both parents defended and fed the fledglings, the latter behavior extraordinary for a male Great-tailed Grackle. Moreover, whereas the female parent was no longer seen, the male continued to feed the young for at least another 7 weeks after they left the nest tree, during which time the trio moved ∼2 km across town and the young began prebasic molt, growing iridescent blue-black secondary coverts as expected for male Great-tailed Grackle but not for Common Grackle or female Great-tailed Grackle. Analysis of DNA from a feather of one offspring confirmed that it had hybrid nuclear DNA, had Common Grackle mitochondrial DNA, and was male. In 2016, the male Great-tailed Grackle again courted a female Common Grackle that nested in his tree, a nest which he defended, but she was also attended by a male Common Grackle. She produced 5 young, all of which were genetically pure Common Grackles, not hybrids. Also notable in 2016, another male Great-tailed Grackle in the general vicinity was observed feeding young in 1 of 3 nests that he defended, suggesting that male parental care may be more common in that species than has been appreciated.

Alexis F. L. A. Powell and John S. Kirkley "An instance of hybridization with Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) and male parental care by Great-tailed Grackle (Q. mexicanus)," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 133(1), 73-81, (19 October 2021). https://doi.org/10.1676/21-00011
Received: 15 January 2021; Accepted: 9 June 2021; Published: 19 October 2021
KEYWORDS
Blackbird
heterospecific courtship
hybrid
Icteridae
male parental care
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