Bird Watching Curaçao – HOME

Co-shared with http://www.caribbeanfootprint.com (Dutch translation available here: Black Birds on the ABC Islands – Save & share! – Caribbean Footprint)

There are birds on our islands that still cause a lot of confusion when people ask for their identification. Despite the abundance of books, online information, and social media, some bird species are apparently so similar that they are consistently misnamed, practically creating online wars over who wants to be right. In practice, this usually involves the group of small yellow birds and the group of medium-sized black birds. In this article, we focus on the black breeding birds found on the islands, with comparative photos. To save and share whenever the discussion starts again.

Three Bird Species Regularly Confused and a fourth that is also black!

There are 3 black bird species and one brown-black bird species on the island that can be seen on land all year round and also breed on the island. They are always confused with each other, and as soon as a black bird is seen, it is usually immediately identified as Chuchubi pretu (black mockingbird). 9 out of 10 times, this is an incorrect identification.

The True Chuchubi pretu or Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris)

The True Chuchubi pretu or Groove-billed ani is a bird usually seen in places where low scrub can be found, or open grassy land with many insects such as grasshoppers and crickets. There are two characteristic features of this bird: the very thick, grooved beak that covers a large part of the head, and the very long, thin tail with which the animal balances as it searches for fat, plump insects among branches and grass. In addition, these birds have black beady eyes and, at 30 cm in length, are by far the largest of the three. They can sometimes be seen in gardens, but they prefer peace and quiet. Therefore, if you see a black bird on the beach, in the parking lot at the gas station or supermarket, or in the city, I can almost guarantee that it is absolutely not a Chuchubi pretu!

The Shiny Cowbird or Para vakero lustroso (Molothrus bonariensis)

The Shiny Cowbird is a relative newcomer to the island, first spotted in the late 1990s and likely arrived as a cage bird on ships and was released. This has caused quite a few problems on the ABC islands, as these birds are brood parasites. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The rapidly developing chicks then throw out the actual eggs of the nest’s owners, which is why you often see the Trupial kachó, or Yellow oriole, flying with a brown chick, among others. It is not their own child. These birds are about 19 centimetres long, very slender in build, and the males are glassy purple-blue while the females are brown. They are therefore about the same size as a Trupial kachó. These black birds also have a black eye, as well as an almost triangular beak.

The Carib Grackle or Zenata karibeño (Quiscalus lugubris)

Another addition to the island, of which it is still unclear whether they arrived naturally or were introduced by humans, is the Carib Grackle. These are the black birds most commonly found on beaches and in parking lots. They are deep black birds standing proudly upright with a fan-shaped tail and piercing light eyes. That is also immediately the most striking feature of them, besides the melodious sounds they make. These are about 25 centimetres long, about the same size as the orange trupial. The Mòfi or Blackfaced grassquit.

The Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor)

In addition to the sooty black bird species mentioned above, there is another native breeding bird species of which at least the male is also quite black in color; the so-called Mòfi or Blackfaced grassquit, a small finch about 10 centimeters long that mainly eats seeds. This species cannot be confused with the other three species, but is named in this article due to its color!