Great-tailed Grackle

Status One confirmed record. On 17 November 1983 a large, partly brown grackle appeared at the A.P. Munt's feeder at Lake LaRose, Annapolis County. Many birders came to see it, and photographs taken by Ian A. McLaren, Eric Mills and others confirmed it as a female Great-tailed Grackle. It was last seen during February 1984. Three earlier sight records of large grackles remain problematic as a result of the more recent splitting of the former Boat-tailed Grackles into the very similar Boat-tailed and Great-tailed species (see Remarks). The first was a male seen by Christel and Norman Bell on Sable Island between 7 and 10 May 1968. The second was closely viewed at Glace Bay on 5 August 1969 and for several days thereafter by several observers, including Sarah MacLean and the Arthur Spencers. Finally, a bird that from its description could only have been a female of one of these large grackles was seen by Gerald Forbes on Sable Island on 1 November 1982.

Remarks The Great-tailed Grackle is resident from the southwestern United States to Central Mexico but is rapidly spreading northward. The Boat-tailed Grackle Quiscalus major, is a largely coastal bird from New York State to central Texas. They are similar in appearance, but throughout most of its range the Boat-tailed is dark-eyed and the Great-tailed is light-eyed. However, Boat-tailed Grackles along the Atlantic coast are pale-eyed. Thus detailed descriptions of size, tail and bill shape, iridescence patterns in males and coloration of back and breast in females are required to discriminate the two species. None of the pre-1983 records can be used to do this, although the description of the 1982 female on Sable Island seems to fit best a Great-tailed Grackle.