Fish Crows and Boat-tailed Grackles

     In the middle of April a couple of years ago, my wife and I visited Charleston, South Carolina for a couple of days.  And seeing a nesting colony of boat-tailed grackles along a waterfront in that city was one of my most memorable experiences.  The grackles were everywhere, in the trees where they had nurseries, on streets, lawns salt marshes, beaches and a pavilion where they were getting some types of food.  The long-legged birds were strutting about to find food and court each other.  And I constantly heard their harsh calls as they walked about.   
     We also saw lots of boat-tails in the Florida Everglades several years ago.  We stopped at a restaurant in the middle of the Everglades and ate outside where we saw those grackles walking around and looking for anything edible to drop to the floor.  They reminded me of rock pigeons scavenging food in city streets and along ocean boardwalks. 
      I've seen fish crows fairly often over the years.  There are some in inland Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where I live.  And I sometimes see them along the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers and often along the Chesapeake Bay, particularly at Northeast, Maryland, where there seems to be a constant, noisy colony of them. 
     Though they are members of different families of birds, I think fish crows and boat-tailed grackles have some characteristics in common.  Male boat-tails look like skinny fish crows; about 16 inches long and with black feathering.  But the grackles' plumage has much purple iridescence. Female boat-tailed grackles are tawny-brown and half the size of the males of their species.  But both boat-tail genders have long, thin bodies and long beaks, legs and tails.  Males' tails are keeled, hence the species' common name.    
     Fish crows and boat-tailed grackles are permanent residents along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Long Island to Louisiana, on the shores of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays and most of lower Florida from coast to coast.  Colonies of fish crows also live inland, mostly along rivers.
     Both these species are omnivorous scavengers that will eat almost anything edible, including invertebrates, crayfish, small fish, tadpoles, grain, berries, fruit and garbage from parking lots and dumpsters.  And both these species are adaptable and feed along streets in cities and towns.    
     Fish crows look almost exactly like American crows, but are a little smaller and thinner.  And fish crows have a more nasal cawing.  Fish crows travel around in flocks to look for food.
     Male and female boat-tailed grackles, though different in appearance, are both handsome birds.  They live in coastal salt marshes, along inland estuaries and inlets and in towns and cities.  Colonies of boat-tails nest in trees.  In boat-tail society, only a few males do most of the mating.  Males are twice the size of their mates because they compete with other males for the right to breed.  The bigger, stronger males get most of the girls:Natural selection in operation.
     Boat-tails utter a hoarse, high-pitched "jeeb" and other chatters and squeaks.  Their notes are distinctive, even among their grackle relatives, such as the inland purple grackles.
     Fish crows and boat-tailed grackles are somewhat similar in appearance and habits.  They are interesting to experience in their varied habitats.