“Come look at these birds, I think they might be Boat-tailed Grackles.”
If we were in Florida Boat-tailed Grackles in the back yard would be very much expected, but we were at our farm in Pennsylvania and Boat-tailed Grackles are never expected this far from Atlantic coastal sites where they are still not nearly as common as they are in Florida.
As I write this column I no longer remember what stupid mundane activity I was engaged in at the time, but instead of rushing to the kitchen window to check out the birds I simply replied, “What color are their eyes?” Jewel replied, “They have yellow eyes.” I dismissively replied, “Boat-tailed Grackles have brown eyes.” “But these appear to definitely be larger than the Common Grackles right next to them and they certainly seem to have larger tails.”
Then her next words ended the discussion, “Never mind, they just flew.” It turns out there were four of the birds in question present, and only later did I check and learn to my chagrin that the mid-Atlantic coastal sub-species of Boat-tailed Grackles do indeed have yellow eyes.
Boat-tailed Grackles, particularly when displaying and trying to outdo their fellow competitors for the attention of nearby females (top), are quite striking and more colorful than Common Grackles. With shimmering glossy blue plumage and distinctive brown eyes (in the Florida sub-species, photo 2) they are stunning. Female Boat-tailed Grackles, (photo 3) on the other hand, are brown.
On a boat trip up the Oklawaha River to the Rodman Dam near Palatka a number of years ago, we encountered a leucistic Boat-Tailed Grackle (photo 4) which was an interesting bird to find. On another occasion at Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach we observed the entire procedure from the female signaling that she was ready for mating all the way through to the actual copulation and the male simply flying off when the act was completed (photo 5).
Common Grackles (photo 6) are smaller (12.5” to 16.5”) than Boat-tailed Grackles, have a shorter wing-span (17” to 23”) and are not as deep blue in color. Female Common Grackles (photo 7) are even less colorful, only having iridescence on their heads and necks. When I first began birding back in the 1940’s Grackles were considered to be two separate species: Purple Grackles and Bronzed Grackles. Bronzed Grackles (photo 8, found at the Home Depot parking lot in Fort Pierce, Florida) were hard to find back then and are still uncommon although they apparently are more readily found in the mid-west. Young Common Grackles (photo 9, being fed by a parent) like so many young blackbird-type species, are all brown and quite nondescript.
Jewel has cautioned me that she still is not at all certain whether the birds were Boat-tailed or Common Grackles. Whether or not we had our first ever Boat-tailed Grackles at our feeders in Pennsylvania will forever remain an uncertainty and a mystery. Indeed, whatever they were, they have never returned. But one very important lesson was learned from the experience: from now on whenever Jewel says “Come look at these birds,” I will stop whatever activity I am engaged in and will get myself quickly to wherever she is to see what she is referring to.
In fact, quickly responding to her call “Come here” is something you think I would have learned a long time ago regardless of whatever the situation may be. This is not something in the “teaching old dogs new tricks category,” I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in the wedding vows. Wasn’t there something about “obey” in there?
For more information on Boat-tailed Grackles, see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat-tailed_grackle
For more information on Common Grackles, see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grackle
