Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Description:

Overview Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: Small, flycatcher-like perching bird, blue-gray upperparts, white underparts, prominent white eye-ring. Wings are dark. Black tail is long and white-edged. Forages in thickets, trees and shrubs for insects, their eggs and larvae. Weak fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

Habitat:

Range and Habitat Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: Breeds from northern California, Colorado, southern Great Lakes region, southern Ontario, and New Hampshire southward. Spends winters from southern California to the Gulf coast and the Carolinas. Preferred habitats include deciduous woodlands, streamside thickets, live oaks, pinyon-juniper, and chaparral.

Notes:

INTERESTING FACTS By flicking its white-edged tail from side to side, the gnatcatcher may scare up hiding insects. They remove the wings of larger insects and beat large prey on a perch. The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is the northernmost occurring species of gnatcatcher, and the only truly migratory one. Their breeding range is expanding northward, especially in eastern North America.