Boat-tailed Grackle

Quiscalus majorOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Blackbirds and Orioles (Icteridae)

General

Boat-tailed Grackle: Large, black bird with very long, keel-shaped tail. Male is iridescent blue-black with yellow or brown eyes. Female is smaller with dark brown upperparts, pale brown breast, and yellow eyes. Juvenile male has dark eyes and no iridescent sheen. Juvenile female may exhibit vague spotting and streaks on breast.

Range and Habitat

Boat-tailed Grackle: Rarely strays from coastal salt marshes except in Florida where it is also inland. It is found around ponds and streams (Florida peninsula), farmlands, towns and cities. Their range is expanding up the Atlantic coast.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"jeeb, jeeb, jeeb"

Interesting Facts

Boat-tailed Grackles from different regions (East Coast, Florida, west of Florida to Louisiana and west of Louisiana) have different eye colors.The reason is unknown.

They have an unusual mating system. Females locate their nests in a cluster or colony. Males compete for the right to defend and mate with all the females. This is known as harem defense polygyny.

Fledglings that fall into the water can swim well for short distances, using their wings as paddles.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Boat-tailed Grackle

Boat-tailed Grackle: Large, black bird with a very long, keel-shaped tail. Male is iridescent blue-black with yellow or brown eyes. Black bill is slender and long. Legs and feet are gray. Forages walking on ground and wading in water. Strong direct flight with rapidly beating wings.

● Song: "jeeb, jeeb, jeeb"

● Foraging & Feeding: Boat-tailed Grackle: Eats small fish, frogs, snails, aquatic and terrestrial insects, shrimp, small bird eggs and nestlings, small reptiles, fruits, berries, and seeds. Sometimes steals food from other birds.

● Breeding & nesting: Boat-tailed Grackle: Three to five pale blue to blue-gray eggs with splotches of black, brown, purple, and gray are laid in a bulky nest made of dried stalks, grass, and cattails (in marshes) or Spanish moss, feathers, mud, cow dung, and bits of debris (in trees). Incubation ranges from 13 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Boat-tailed Grackle: Great-tailed grackle is larger and has bright yellow eyes, longer bill, flatter crown, and is found inland west of Mississippi River. Smooth-billed Ani has dark eyes, thick curved bill, and long, graduated tail.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats., Strong direct flight on rapidly beating wings with long keeled tail extended behind.

Boat-tailed Grackle Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Boat-tailed Grackle: Rarely strays from coastal salt marshes except in Florida where it is also inland. It is found around ponds and streams (Florida peninsula), farmlands, towns and cities. Their range is expanding up the Atlantic coast.

^BreedingSmall colonies, Promiscuous

^Population

^MigrationSome migrate

^Weight7.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America