Celebrating Endemic Bird Festival of the Caribbean (CEBF) With us! Our theme for 2025 is “Shared Space: Creating Bird-Friendly Cities and Communities” –Bird-friendly cities and communities can highlight the key role in dealing with the decline in bird populations caused by threats such as habitat loss, predation, and climate change. Learn and enjoy the new endemic birds every day. There are coloring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download it for free and enjoy learning and celebrating about nature!
Endemic birds today: Cuban blackbirds
Let’s talk about the Blackbirds of Cuba (Ptiloxena atroviolacea) – or as known affectionately on the island Toti. When you ask almost every Cuba, they recognize the name. This impressive all-black bird is a familiar sight throughout Cuba, from busy urban and rural areas, embedded in Cuban culture and proverbs. Locals sometimes call someone Toti When they end up taking responsibility for something – just.
At first glance, the Cuban Blackbird looks completely black, but when you catch it with the light on the right you will see a beautiful flash of rainbows of feathers, blue and purple. Its beak and legs are black and its eyes are dark brown. Women are similar, men and women are similar, but women are slightly smaller. Approximately 25-28 cm long, one of the best ways to convey it apart from similar black birds is its distinctive square tail. For comparison, the larger anti-rian rackles (also black species) have yellow eyes and a long V-shaped tail, while the shiny cowbirds are smaller with stronger violet tones.
This bird is Specific to Cuba on the mainlandand you can find it anywhere – forests, grasslands, farmlands, towns, cities. Its diverse musical songs can often be heard resonating in both natural and urban environments. Cuban blackbirds are adaptable, opportunistic, often found to be forged in pairs, or mixed packs with other blackbirds, on the ground alone. Its diet contains insects, seeds, small vertebrates, and even nectar.
Breeding takes place from April to August. Pair build Cup-shaped nest Outside the roots, hair and feathers, they usually lay 3-5 eggs.
Cuban Blackbirds are common and prevalent today, but it remains important not to take their existence for granted. There is much I don’t know about this species, and even adaptable birds can face unexpected challenges as climate change and habitat losses intensify. As the proverb says, “When protecting seeds, that’s still common.”Find out more about this kind of range, photos, phones and more. Great news! If you are in the Caribbean, thanks to Birds Caribbean, you have free access to the birds of the world and you can know moreover in Account of this bird’s complete species!
Thank you to Arnaldo Toledo for illustration Saúl González Rosales For text!
Cuban Blackbird Color
Download the endemic bird coloring page of the West Indies. You can use the photos below as a guide, or look up bird photos online, or if you have a bird field guide, you can look up bird field guides. Post online and tag us with @birdscaribbean #cebffromthenent Share your color page
Listen to the Call of the Cuban Blackbird
Cuban Blackbird’s appeal includes metallicSchee-O“” loudlyChuck” Similarly to “Chock, Chock, Chock, Lee, Lee, Lee.” series.
The day’s puzzle
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make your puzzles as easy or hard as you like. For example, you can make 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, and up to 1,024 pieces for those on the challenge!
The day’s activities
For kids: Cuban blackbirds look black. But when sunlight hits it at different angles,
The purple and blue colors become clear. This beautiful effect is known as rainbow colour! Some birds have wings like this, and you may have seen this with shiny bubbles or butterfly wings.
Create your own rainbow bookmarks using simple materials. Like the shiny feathers of a Cuban Blackbird. Your bookmarks will sparkle and sparkle as they move it in the light.
You will need:
- paper
It is best to use black cardstock as the rainbow colors are displayed as they are darker
color. However, any kind of paper can be used as long as it is thick enough to enter the water
And there is no shiny or slippery coating. - Print from a feather template (provided by our instructions)
- Clear nail polish
- Shallow container
- Scissors
- Paper towel
You need a parent or trustworthy adult to support this activity.
For kids and adults: Enjoy this video of wild Cuban blackbirds!
