Boat-tailed Grackle

Whenever along the east coast, you will have an opportunity to find the Boat-tailed Grackle also known as Quiscalus major. Known for its iridescent plumage just like its Grackle cousins. Often confused with the Great-Tail Grackle, the Boat-tailed Grackle was established as a separate species in 1972 upon the discovery of the lack of mating between Boat-tailed Grackles and Great Grackles.

About Boat-tailed Grackles

A strictly coastal species found along the coast in beaches and coastal towns and cities, they can be found picking at the litter left by humans in settlements, also across shallow aquatic areas where they can be seen flipping over stones and pebbles hunting for aquatic insects, snails, crayfish, crabs, mussels, shrimp, tadpoles, frogs, and small fish.

The Boat-tailed Grackle has kept constant reproduction rates contrary to the threat that its considerably small natural habitat of marshes along the coast has faced due to coastal development projects. Even with the threat to their breeding range, the Boat-tailed Grackles come under the least concern as their population is around 3.7 million. Considered as a pest due to its crop-eating habits and loud gregarious colonies the Boat-tailed Grackles are often considered a threat to agriculture around the east coast.

When we look at their interesting history, it is natural that birdwatchers want to know all they can about this coastal Grackle species. So, why don’t we find out more today? 

● Boat-tailed Grackle Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Boat-tailed Grackle Size, Eating behavior, Habitat.
● Boat-tailed Grackle Range and Migration, Nesting

GET KIDS BIRD WATCHING

Boat-tailed Grackle Color Pattern

Adult Male Boat-tailed Grackles are often said to have blue, purple, or green highlights amongst their plumage. The misconception is due to the iridescent nature of their plumage that may cause the viewer to see blue, purple, or green tones around their chest and nape. The adult male is entirely black. The color of their eyes varies from range to range. They have yellow eyes along the Atlantic coast and brown eyes along the Gulf coast.

Immature males, unlike their mature versions, lack the iridescent plumage and instead develop it as they mature. When young they have pale brown bellies and breasts and dark brown wings. Along with the head, you can find a dark brown eye line and a pale stripe almost like a mustache.

Adult females look nothing like their male counterparts, not being black, but instead having russet plumage along with the breast and belly with dark brown tones across their head, nape, and wings.

Description and Identification

If trying to identify a Boat-tailed Grackle, they are usually in abundance along the eastern coast. Often identifying the correct Grackle can be more of a task than finding a gregarious colony either in bushes or in the open pecking for food.

Roaming along with Great-tailed Grackles, the large black iridescent birds have long dark bills and even longer boat keel-shape tails. This accounts for over half the length of the bird and its name.

Another way of differentiating the bird from its cousins is its domed head, which it does not share with the rest of its family.

Another method of identification is their extreme displays of puffed chests and raised bills, which they use to not only attract potential mates but also to ensure their place in the social hierarchy by dominating the other males.

Boat-tailed Grackle Song

Boat-tailed Grackles are known for their harsh abrasive “jeeb-jeeb-jeeb” sound paired with low pitch clacks, raspy clicks, and guttural rolls. 

While both male and female can sing, the female does so rarely, mostly chattering during mating season. Males during the mating season make a “cheat” sound during mating season to attract potential female mates.

Both genders scream and clack at humans and predators to threaten them. Both make a chuttering sound during the mating season.
 

Boat-tailed Grackle Size

Boat-tailed Grackles are Blackbirds, thus considered medium-size birds while being quite big for the average blackbird. They are bigger than their Common Grackle cousins and there’s a larger variation between the size of the male and female. An adult male can measure anywhere between 15–17 inches in length and weigh around 5.8-8.8 ounces. Females are half the size of their male counterparts. Females are 10–13 inches and weigh 3.2–4.1 ounces, their tails are also half the size of the males. Boat-tailed Grackles have a recorded average wingspan of 15.3-19.7 inches.

Boat-tailed Grackle Behavior

In early spring, Boat-tailed Grackles form roosts of hundreds of birds. There are loud, noisy colonies of female birds that begin to nest. Safe from water and ground predators, the males begin to raise their wings and puff their chests, in competition to see who protects the colony and mates with the females. This is called harem defense polygyny, a method of mating for birds in North America generally used by big game and deer.

As discussed above, there are two song types sung by them. One is for when they want to defend the territory. The other is for when they want to attract a potential mate. Contrary to the most dominant male, mating most with the females, often only 25% of the DNA of the offspring belongs to him.

Males spend much of their time displaying, with raised bills and puffed chests. They do this to attract mates but also to establish dominance over other males to ensure that nobody threatens them or their roost.

The female raises their young completely alone. She also incubates them for 2 weeks and raises them for 3 at which point the young leave the nest.

The Boat-tailed Grackle is an extremely smart bird that often exhibits curious behavior like dipping hard food in water in order to soften it, a habit mostly practiced by Crows.

Master beggars live around picnic grounds and beaches settling next to humans and performing their call, in order to get food from humans. During the day they spend time at beaches, farms, and landfills scavenging for food left behind by humans. They hunt a steady diet of insects, shellfish, fruits, grain, and berries. 

Boat-tailed Grackle Diet

Boat-tailed Grackles are omnivores; thus, the generalist life suits them perfectly. In aquatic areas, they roam the shallow waters overturning pebbles and stones in order to catch crustaceans, turtles, and arthropods. 

If they are unable to catch anything in aquatic areas, they start eating fruits, seeds, berries, and tubers. They also hunt insects, snails, and frogs. They are often pests to humans due to using farmed crops, animal feed, and human food as a source when moving along human settlements. 

While a nuisance for humans, their fellow birds have it worse. The Boat-tailed Grackle eats the eggs of other birds and often small birds.

Boat-tailed Grackle Habitat

Boat-tailed Grackles love saltwater and are often in marshes and salt marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.  The coastal species is rarely found far from the cost except in the Florida peninsular. They are pests to farmers across the coasts, as they forage across fields and eat animal feed.

They live in large colonies around sources of food such as farms, livestock farms, city plazas, landfills, and beaches. Generally, areas with adequate food for consumption are always near water. 

For breeding, they prefer to build their nesting colonies near fresh water or brackish marshes. Here, alligators and rising water levels will not affect their young.

Range and Migration

Boat-tailed Grackles are permanent residents of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Most never move beyond a 10-mile distance from their birthplace. Which is irregular considering its protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The bird does not migrate due to weather and breeding. Instead, they live around the marshes they were born along the coast, roosting communally.

With an overall range of 77,000 square miles, these birds live mostly along coasts, except in Florida, where they live across the peninsular.

Boat-tailed Grackle Lifecycle

The Boat-tailed Grackle gives birth to an average of 4 eggs. The number can be as low as 1 per brood or even up to 5 per brood. The Female Grackles lays 2 broods. The eggs are light blue in color with small scrawls of brown and black. The mother incubates their eggs for 13 days upon which the Grackle younglings hatch. The Grackle young are led and nurtured by a female adult for about 3 weeks during which the Male leave the nest. After the 3 weeks, the young ones leave the nest and achieve independence. Boat-tailed Grackles live for 12 years in the wild, the oldest being 13 years and 1 month along the Gulf coast.

Nesting

If attempting to locate a nest, one must search for freshwater or brackish marshes amongst the cattails or other freshwater grasses. About 2 feet above the ground, the Boat-tailed Grackle builds its nest. Often even up to 40 feet depending on the isolation the bush or tree can provide from rising waters and ground predators.

The nest is built by building an outer cup, made of grass stems, leaves, and small branches. They then make an inner layer using wet mud and debris and then line the inside with finer materials like grass stems and pine needles. The nest is built in roosting colonies that offer the protection of a dominant male.

Anatomy of a Boat-tailed Grackle

The Boat-tailed Grackle is a large lanky bird, with a long dark slightly curved downward bill. Its eyes can be different based on range or season, being a bright yellow on the Atlantic Coast and Dull brown on the Gulf coast.  A dome-shaped head helps differ them from Great-tailed Grackle. They have long dark legs with thin sharp talons. Their identifying feature would be their tail, almost half their entire body length ranging between 4.3–7.9 inches, the large tail has a “V” shape almost like a boat keel that they are named after.  

Final Thoughts

You are most likely to find them across any tourist beach, scavenging leftovers and stealing food from humans. These birds are considered to be “Least Concerned” in terms of conservation but have lost 44% of their population since the 1960s. Being a bird that is only found in the United States of America. The coastal erosion caused by rising water levels and rising temperatures have reduced the available marshland, along with the increase in coastal development has threatened the habitat of the bird thus forcing it to depend on humans for food and shelter, who in turn have considered them pests for decades.

Often also found around boat launches and parks strutting around with their long legs and puffed chest, one may find the long-tailed bird sitting amongst many of its kind displaying throughout the year.

If still not able to find the majestic bird, one may look no further than the dumpster behind a beach town restaurant, amongst the discarded fries the glossy black pirate may scavenge.

Incredibly smart birds that adapt to their surrounding well, from their thievery from fishermen at the docks or their begging from humans at the parks. Their versatility ensures their survival along coasts or slightly inland.

Ornithology

Bird Watching Academy & Camp Subscription Boxes

At the Bird Watching Academy & Camp we help kids, youth, and adults get excited and involved in bird watching. We have several monthly subscription boxes that you can subscribe to. Our monthly subscription boxes help kids, youth, and adults learn about birds, bird watching, and bird conservation.

Bird Watching Binoculars for IdentifyingBoat-tailed Grackles

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Boat-tailed Grackles are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

Boat-tailed Grackle Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Boat-tailed Grackle. We sell a monthly subscription sticker pack. The sticker packs have 12 bird stickers. These sticker packs will help your kids learn new birds every month.

Bird Feeders ForBoat-tailed Grackles

There are many types of bird feeders. Bird feeders are a great addition to your backyard. Bird feeders will increase the chances of attracting birds drastically. Both kids and adults will have a great time watching birds eat at these bird feeders. There are a wide variety of bird feeders on the market and it is important to find the best fit for you and your backyard.

Bird HousesForBoat-tailed Grackles

There are many types of bird houses. Building a bird house is always fun but can be frustrating. Getting a bird house for kids to watch birds grow is always fun. If you spend a little extra money on bird houses, it will be well worth every penny and they’ll look great.