Fun Florida Grackle Facts For Kids

The Florida grackle, also known as boat-tailed grackle, is one of the species of grackles like the great-tailed and common grackle. With shades of black and brown, boat-tailed grackles are found around the restricted habitat of the Florida peninsula and around. They are one of the passerine birds found in northern America. They are gregarious species and prey on anything and also feed on garbage and litter.

The adult male and adult female differ on basis of appearance and also the location they are found. It is one of the most common birds in North America. While an adult male protects the territory, the female is to feed young grackles. The adult male also protects the flock during migration done based on seasons.

If the uniqueness of Florida grackles makes you interested to read more about similar species, you can read about American wigeon facts and shrike.

What type of animal is a Florida grackle?

The boat-tailed grackle of the genus Quiscalus is a songbird of the family Icteridae. It is one of the North American birds. They are even mistaken for a crow due to the similarities in appearance.

What class of animal does a Florida grackle belong to?

Boat-tailed grackle with the scientific name Quiscalus major belongs to the category of Aves. It is a passerine bird of the genus Quiscalus found in marshes and coasts of North America.

How many Florida grackles are there in the world?

With covering the range of more than 77220 sq mi (200000 sq km), the population is recorded to be more than 3,700,000 individuals of Florida grackle bird globally. The species of grackle Florida are quite common in the restricted habitat of marshes and coastal plains of North America.

Where does a Florida grackle live?

The species of Florida grackles are restricted to marshes and coastal plains or wetlands of North America. They commonly live around the Florida peninsula but are also found on coasts of the southeastern United States such as the western Gulf Coast, Atlantic Coast. Though this species is not recorded to adapt migration and is restricted to its native habitat. New York is near the northern range of location where Florida grackles live and are said to migrate to New York during the winter season and return when the temperature range rises. The range of the species of Florida grackles goes down to the south of Texas.

What is a Florida grackle's habitat?

The habitat of boat-tailed grackles is said to have a limited range from the Florida peninsula to the coasts of southern United States like the Atlantic Coast, Gulf Coast, and other coastal wetlands and range down to the south of Texas east. Though they are speculated to make nests in the urban regions or agricultural territories near the water bodies.

Who do Florida grackles live with?

Florida grackles are social animals and are recorded to be noisy when found to live with flocks. The flocks of the species are shooed away due to the songs and calls sung by these passerine birds. The birds can feed on anything from small birds, crustaceans, frogs, bushes to seeds, garbage, litter, thus, are recorded to live with the species they prey on.

How long does a Florida grackle live?

A boat-tailed grackle is said to live for a considerable amount of years, but the exact life span of the Florida blackbird is yet to be researched and recorded. Whereas, the longest living common grackle is said to be 23 years, while the average lifespan of a common grackle is recorded to be 17-22 years. Speculating the life span of Quiscalus quiscula, a boat-tailed grackle is said to live at least 10 years until it is preyed on by its common predators such as yellow rat snakes, black rats, and rice rats.

How do they reproduce?

The breeding of Florida's blackbird with a boat-shaped tail is oviparous. They are speculated to not having any specific breeding season. They lay one to five eggs at a time, their incubation period is 13 days long and only the females incubate. The eggs are blue with irregular brown, gray markings. The common hatching period of its eggs is about 13 days. Before hatching, the eggs turn creamy tan down. The young ones stay in the nest for 12-15 days before they take their first flight off their nest. Until then the adult blackbirds protect their off-springs and their nest.

What is their conservation status?

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, grackle boat-tailed birds fall under the Least Concern conservation status for species.

What do Florida grackles look like?

An adult male, adult female, and young Florida blackbirds with boat-tail vary from appearances based on sex and also region found in. It is one of the North American birds that sing and call at night.  The adult male is twice the size of an adult female. While the adult male is glossy black with a tint of purple and blue over the head, the female is dark brown above and rusty black below with shades of blue. Male boat-tailed grackle has a V-shaped tail with long legs and a long pointed bill. On the other hand, the female boat-tailed grackle has a large, lanky body with a long tail and a bill. Similarly, an immature boat-tailed grackle is pale below and dark above with tints of shades of yellow and brown. Also, it has a dark eye-line around its dark eyes. The eye color of boat-tailed grackle varies from dull brown to bright yellow as its range moves around from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic coast. In good light males appear to have purplish-blue iridescence but the young lack the same. The egg of the species is found to be blue with tints of yellow, brown, and gray marks.

How cute are they?

With a glossy rusty-black body and a long boat-shaped tail, boat-tailed grackles are said to be attractive due to the all-black look. After all, who doesn't find black attractive? There are conflicting opinions about the cuteness of Florida blackbird grackle boat-tailed. They are also often mistaken as great-tailed grackle which is another one of the attractive blackbirds in the family of grackle birds. It is further speculated that females comforting young hatch-lings is another cute scenario to sight.

How do they communicate?

Since boat-tailed grackle is a passerine bird, a song singing bird, they are said to communicate via calls and songs. The songs sung by Florida's blackbird grackle are the ones with 'jeeb' following whistles and rolls. The frequency of sound used in the calls and songs depends on the message conveyed. Also, there are speculations that like the common grackle and great-tailed grackle, a boat-tailed grackle also uses body gestures to communicate.

How big is a Florida grackle?

The Florida grackles' average size ranges between 10-14.6 in (26-37 cm) and they can be as big as 17 in (43 cm). It is said to be of a similar size as its similar species, the great-tailed grackle.

How fast can a Florida grackle fly?

While an adult is studied to walk slowly on the ground and in shallow water, probing the soil, there is no specific study recorded to decipher its flying speed. It is documented that while taking a strong direct flight, they rapidly beat their wings. Also, it is speculated that boat-tailed grackles fly fastest to protect their territories and nests.

How much does a Florida grackle weigh?

A boat-tailed grackle can weigh between 3.3-8.4 oz (93-239 g) and has a maximum weight of 8.8 oz (250 g).

What are the male and female names of the species?

There are no specific names documented males and female species of Florida's blackbird with boasted long tails. They can be called out as the female boat-tailed grackle bird and the male boat-tailed grackle bird respectively in layman terms.

What would you call a baby Florida grackle?

Babies of the blackbirds from Florida found nearby Gulf and Atlantic coasts are called out at as hatchlings or chicks. A baby boat-tailed grackle bird is found in the nest under the shield of males and females protection. Its diet is taken care of by its parents until it takes its first flight off its nest.

What do they eat?

The diet of an omnivore boat-tailed grackle consists of almost everything from small birds, seeds, litter, garbage, insects, berries. They also feed on eggs and nestlings of other birds. They are also recorded to steal food from the nests of large birds in northern America.

Are they dangerous?

The boated-tailed grackle is known to be a wild species of a grackle. With utter similarities between common grackles and great-tailed grackles, they are speculated to be gregarious predators and a danger to wide species.

Would they make a good pet?

No, since it is a wild bird, it does not make a good pet.

Did you know...

The species of boat-tailed grackle birds occur in flocks, where males fight for protection, during migration. The migration takes place with season change from early spring to the arrival of winter.

The boat-tailed grackle and great-tailed grackle were considered the same species due to their similarity in size and appearance until the late '70s. The genetic study of the species burst the bubble.

Grackles are neither good for nature nor bad. They are harmful to crops on one side and also cleans up garbage and litter as they are too a source of food to grackles. The existence of grackles has its own significance just as similar to others.

They are speculated to be endemic to their native location of America. Though no reports are confirming the same.

Just like the common grackle and great-tailed, boat-tailed grackle is too known for its aggressive, nuisance, and noisy nature. They also have a bad reputation as food-stealers.

What are grackles afraid of?

Florida grackles have threats mainly from their predators. They are afraid of scare tactics or deterrents such as predator eye balloons, reflective eye diverters, and shiny reflective objects.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Hahn's macaw facts and Nicobar pigeon facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Florida grackle coloring pages.