On display, male Boat-tailed Grackles at the Jensen Beach bridge west causeway park, Indian River Lagoon in the background.

There are always lots of grackles in the two causeway parks under the bridge, in case you have an urge to observe these noisy and charismatic blackbirds.

Three females in grass nearby.

When you smell saltwater on the East Coast, it’s time to look out for Boat-tailed Grackles. The glossy blue-black males are hard to miss as they haul their ridiculously long tails around or display from marsh grasses or telephone wires. The rich, dark-brown females are half the size of males and look almost like a different species. Boat-tailed Grackles take advantage of human activity along our increasingly developed coast, scavenging trash and hanging out in busy urban areas away from predators.