Golden-tufted Grackle

Male golden-tufted mountain grackles are about 28 cm (11 in) long and females about 25 cm (9.8 in). Males weigh an average of about 87 g (3.1 oz) and females about 72 g (2.5 oz). The species is slender and has a long tail. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults are almost entirely black overlain with a blue gloss, though their rump and underparts' plumage are less glossy. Their underwing coverts are black. Their axillaries are yellow to tawny-yellow with some chestnut at their base. These provide the eponymous pectoral tufts that are highly visible in flight but are often hidden when the bird is perched. They have a hazel to dark brown iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet. Juveniles are dusky brown with less gloss than adults.

The golden-tufted mountain grackle has a disjunct distribution. It is found primarily in Venezuela on multiple tepuis in northern and central Amazonas and northwestern and southeastern Bolívar states. From Bolívar its range extends east onto tepuis in western Guyana and extreme northwestern Brazil's Roraima state. It inhabits humid montane evergreen forest heavy with bromeliads and epiphytes. At higher elevations it also occurs in stunted Melastomataceae forest on nutrient-poor sandy soil but still with abundant bromeliads and epiphytes. In Venezuela it ranges in elevation from 500 to 2,000 m (1,600 to 6,600 ft).

The golden-tufted mountain grackle's diet has not been studied but is assumed to include insects, other arthropods, small vertebrates, and fruit. It typically forages in flocks of 10 to 30 individuals, seeking prey in arboreal foliage and epiphytes. It has not been observed feeding in the forest understory or on the ground.