CONGRATULATIONS, COLIN DOUGLAS AND MONIQUE MATHIS! You’ve beat the throng and correctly identified the Greater Antillean Grackle (Quiscalus niger), commonly called Cling Cling.

Some of you thought it was Jamaican Blackbird, also called Wildpine Sergeant and Black Bananna Bird. Others thought it was the Great-tailed Grackle, but the lesson to be learned is that not every black bird is a Blackbird.

The Cling Cling is so called because of the sound of its calls. According to A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica by Ann Sutton et al, it is bigger than the endangered Jamaican Blackbird, and smaller than the Great-tailed Grackle. It has a sharply pointed conical bill, long keel-shaped tail and bright yellow iris. The adult male is glossy black with pale yellow eyes, while the female is slightly smaller and duller.

If you’ve ever been at a hotel and seen black birds fly in and pick at scraps on the dining room tables, you’ve seen Greater Antillean Grackles. For that reason, Sutton calls them bold and fearless.

You’ve probably also seen them in and around power plants, for which they seem to have a particular fondness. They flock inland during the day and fly to the coast in the evening, roosting in large noisy flocks in trees near the sea or on buildings, Sutton says.