Family: Icteridae, Blackbirds and Orioles view all from this family

Description Male, 16-17" (41-43 cm); female, 12-13" (30-33 cm). Tail very long and keel-shaped. Male black, with iridescent purple on back and breast. Female smaller, brown with a pale breast. Eyes always yellow. Common Grackle is smaller; female lacks pale breast. Boat-tailed Grackle of salt marshes very similar, but males are iridescent blue or blue-green and often have brown eyes. Most easily distinguished by call.

Habitat Farmlands with scattered trees and thickets.

Nesting 3 or 4 pale blue eggs, spotted and scrawled with brown and purple, placed in a bulky nest of sticks, grass, and mud in a tree. Nests in loose colonies.

Range Resident from California, Colorado, Kansas, and western Louisiana southward.

Voice   Variety of whistles, clucks, and hissing notes.

Discussion Where Great-tailed and Boat-tailed grackles occur together, the Great-tailed tends to avoid salt marshes, the chief habitat of the Boat-tailed. Occasionally, however, the two may nest very near one another, and on rare occasions the species have been known to hybridize. The Great-tail seems to be extending its range eastward but has not yet reached Florida. Like magpies, these noisy, opportunistic birds feed on a great variety of food: fruits, grain, insects, garbage, and offal. They are usually bold but become cautious and wary when in danger. The polygamous male is more cunning and shyer than the female; he often remains safe in a treetop until all his females are feeding on the ground. He will then join them.