This beautiful male Boat-tailed Grackle is on the lookout at the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. He is a permanent resident of Florida. The bright sun makes the beautiful iridescence of his feathers glow for all to enjoy. Females have a brownish coloration and a smaller tail. Boat-tailed Grackles breed abundantly in salt and freshwater marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These birds forage on the ground, in shallow water, or in shrubs. They eat arthropods, crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, turtles, lizards, grain, seeds, fruit, and tubers. At times they have been known to steal food from other birds, animals, and humans. They overturn shells and stones with their beaks, dunk their heads in water to catch their prey, and pry open mussel shells. Just like us, they will dunk food like rice, dogfood, or bread before eating it.
