Boat-tailed Grackle

Description:

Boat-tailed Grackles are large, lanky songbirds with rounded crowns, long legs, and fairly long, pointed bills. Males have very long tails that make up almost half their body length and that they typically hold folded in a V-shape, like the keel of a boat. Males are glossy black all over.

Habitat:

Reeds, waterlilies, pickerel rush all line the roadway as you travel south into Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. There is a Information Center at the entrance to the refuge. This refuge is on the Lake Charles Creole Loop.

Notes:

Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge was established to preserve and protect wintering waterfowl and their habitat. It was the first refuge established under the auspices of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. The refuge is located approximately 25 miles southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, in north central Cameron Parish. It contains 9,621 acres that include fresh marsh, coastal prairie, and old rice fields (currently moist soil units). Located at the convergence of two major flyways, the refuge has an important role in management for migratory birds.