Birds were flitting near the tips of branches in the tall trees. One came down to my level, in the crabapple tree. Its tail was long, in the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher way.
Its feathers were soft and fluffy, mostly gray, because it was a baby. It must have fledged from its nest somewhere near my house, and fairly recently. Already it could fly well, but it was curiously incautious. It came close, watching me. It had probably never seen a human being before.
One of its parents was looking down at us from a greater height. It had a deep blue forehead and back.
Its white eye-ring showed up boldly against the dark blue head. The feathers looked sleek, and harder. Adult feathers need to be tough.
For a while, babies can get by with downy plumage. That’s OK for a baby, but it would not hold up to the rigors of migration. By fall they will replace their juvenile feathers with new, stronger ones. And their heads and backs will turn the beautiful blue of their parents’.
This could be the nest that my visitor hatched from. It’s small and delicate, like the nest of a hummingbird. Covered with flakes of lichen, it blends with the tree branches.
What they eat
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are primarily insectivorous. They eat mostly small invertebrates. They find these things delicious: flies, leafhoppers, aphids, moths, caterpillars, beetles, treehoppers, spiders and spider eggs, small wasps and ants, insect eggs, and the occasional small crustacean.
How it sings
Its whispery-skritchy song is elusive, often brief, and usually at a distance. I have never been able to record it, but if you want to hear one, go to the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds site and click on the green LISTEN button.
Why I love the gnatcatcher
No bird is dressed more finely. With its stark white eye-ring, its sleek blue crown and its long, snazzy, black tail trimmed with white edges, it reminds me of a Gilded Age gentleman in tails and top hat.
It is one of the smallest of birds, yet it’s as full of personality as an eagle.
Even when it’s still a baby.
I got my bird watching interest from my mother, but my father had no real interest in birds. But one day I managed to call his attention to a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which was flitting very actively in a wild black cherry tree just an arm's reach away from the elevated deck we were sitting on. I lent my binoculars to me father and managed to get him on the bird, and he was stunned: "It's so sleek and trim!" He would bring it up again and again for years, asking me to remind him what that sleek little blue-gray bird was. The big personality of that little sprite captured the heart and mind of a man for whom the birds I was obsessed with were more or less all the same! I truly don't think he could have been more affected by seeing that gnatcatcher if he had been watching an eagle! Thanks for bringing back this memory to me. :)
I look forward to each post. Your photos are wonderful. Best of all your love for the birds makes me happy! Thank you for all you do for them.