Wildlife of the Week: A Boat-Tailed Grackle, a Carolina Wren, and White Peacock Butterflies

 

Time for three new wildlife of the week! Today we have the ever fun Boat-tailed Grackle, a  Carolina Wren, and the white peacock butterfly. Let's learn about them!

Boat-tailed Grackle

One of my favorite things about Boat-tailed Grackles is that when they make a ruckus (like the one above is doing), they often release a clackety sound that is funky and unique (have a listen to this recording from the Macaulay Library).^[1] Boat-tailed Grackles are fairly common, and you can often find them in parking lots and around lakes. Another cool thing is that a quick glance at the males might make them seem like they're all black, but when their feathers catch the sunlight, they reveal all sorts of pretty blues. The female birds are brown.

Seen: Perched by a lake.

Scientific Name: Quiscalus major

Month: May  '24 

Carolina Wren

This Carolina Wren perched for a quick photograph and a song. Male and female pairs of Carolina Wrens stay together the entire year, so if you're lucky, you might see two!^[2] Sometimes they forage together. Although these birds love to eat bugs (caterpillars are a favorite), they'll also eat suet out of feeders.^[2,3] 

Scientific Name: Thryothorus ludovicianus
Seen: Perched on a hook
Month: September '24

White Peacock Butterflies

  

I stopped for a quick visit to the park one day and found tons of white peacock butterflies flitting around on the flowers of the beggarticks plant (which is apparently one of their favorites).^[4] They were so peaceful to watch, happily bouncing from one flower to the next. Take a look at the videos below. One interesting thing about White Peacock butterflies is that they are reported to change colors slightly with the seasons, becoming darker in the summer and lighter in the winter.^[4]

Here is one video of all the butterflies flying together:

And here is another focused on one butterfly:

 And, since they're pretty, here's one more photo:

Scientific Name: Anartia jatrophae
Seen: Flying and resting on the plant beggarticks / Spanish needles.
Month: September '24

Learn More About These Animals:

1. McGuire, B. (2009, December 21). Boat-tailed Grackle [Sound recording]. Macaulay Library.
2. Kaufman, K. (1996). Lives of North American birds. Houghton Mifflin.
3. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.).Carolina wren: Overview. All About Birds.
4. Florida Wildflower Foundation. (n.d.). White peacock.