Food Habits of the Great-Tailed Grackle in Brazos County, Texas

Abstract

vegetable matter. Corn, the most important single item, accounted for 46.8% of the total food budget and represented more than 50% of the vegetable food in all months except May and November. No weed seeds were found, but grasshoppers were eaten in July and August, and six Texas birds taken in September had eaten Cotton Bollworms [Heliothis zea (Boddie)]. Unfortunately, specific collecting localities were not given, and in light of Selander and Giller's work (1961), it is questionable whether the samples represented Cassidix mexicanus, C. major, or both. Many notes based on empirical observation have been published describing foraging sites (Carriker 1910; Skutch in Bent 1958; Selander and Giller 1961), feeding methods (Griscom 1932; Lamb 1944; Skutch in Bent 1958; Selander and Giller 1961), and food items (Lamb 1944; Skutch in Bent 1958; Tutor 1962; Blankinship 1966; Cottam and Trefethen 1968). This study sampled the diet of Great-tailed Grackles (Cassidix mexicanus prosopidicola) from a limited geographic area during the course of one year. The samples were examined for evidence of seasonal variation in the diet, diet differences in the various age and sex classes, and for possible impact of Greattailed Grackle feeding habits on local agriculture and wildlife.