Boat-tailed Grackle - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo by David Roach
Wakodahatchee, Florida, October 2004

Quiscalus major

Identification

Males 16-17" (41-43 cm)
Females 12-13" (30-33 cm)
Tail very long and keel-shaped
Male

• Black
• Iridescent blue on back and breast
• Yellow or brown eyes
  

Female
Photo by tetoneon
East of Fort Myers, Florida, May 2014

Female

• Smaller
• Brown with paler breast

Similar species

Common Grackle smaller; female lacks paler breast. Very similar to Great-tailed Grackle

• Averages shorter-tailed
• Rounder headed
• Relatively long legs
• Long slender bill
• Distinctive voice
• Eye color differs
  • White eye on Atlantic coast
  • Brown eye on Gulf coast

Distribution

Resident along coasts from New Jersey south and west to Louisiana; also inland in peninsular Florida. Rare but regular breeder north along coast to Massachusetts.

Only one accepted inland record at Braddock Bay Bird Observatory in New York.

Taxonomy

This species and its close relative the Great-tailed Grackle were thought to be a single species until it was found that both nest in southwestern Louisiana without interbreeding.

Juvenile
Photo by KC Foggin
Withers Swash, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, July 2003

Subspecies

This is a polytypic species, consisting of four subspecies^[1]:

• Q. m. major:

• Coastal Texas and Louisiana

• Q. m. alabamensis:

• Coastal Mississippi to north-western Florida

• Q. m. torreyi:

• Coastal New York south to north-eastern Florida

• Q. m. westoni:

• North Carolina to southern Florida

Habitat

Marshes along the coast; in Florida, also on farmlands.

Behaviour

Diet

Female
Photo by AForns
South Florida, March 2008

Mostly insects and plant matter. Lesser quantities of aquatic invertebrates and reptiles or amphibians

Breeding

The clutch consists of 3 or 4 pale blue eggs, spotted and scrawled with brown and purple. The nest is a bulky cup of grass, mud, and decayed vegetation placed from 2 to 10' (60 cm to 3 m) up in marsh grass or bushes.

Vocalisation

Harsh jeeb-jeeb-jeeb-jeeb, unlike the whistles and clucks of the Great-tailed Grackle.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Boat-tailed Grackle. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Boat-tailed_Grackle

External Links

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