The Boat Tailed Grackle is one of those bird species where the female is as beautiful as the male.
One of the things I love about photographing birds in Florida is that my hit ratio or “keepers” are better because the concentration of birds is higher and they seem to be more habituated to humans than those in the Northeast (at least thats what I tell my wife :-))
These images were taken just at sunset. In fact the image below was taken in overcast conditions, otherwise it was a gloriously sunny day.
Its hard to appreciate the iridescence of the males feathers but they are stunning.
Images captured with Nikon D3x, 600mm f/4 w/TC-14e II on Lexar digital film.
Vinnie, The female is beautiful! Great job!
Nice work Vincent! We have the Great-Tailed Grackle here in AZ. They have a similar appeal in their brazen behavior and iridescent plumage, and with the right angles and right lighting they are totally stunning.
The down side is that they often hang around dirty areas and are not very clean, so they’re over exposed in the worst sort of way. But when they’re in a natural setting, they’re very impressive birds.
I love seeing and hearing the Boat tailed Grackle~they give a good show ..so vocal