Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

(Polioptila caerulea)

Conservation Status

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Photo by Christa Rittberg
IUCN Red List

LC - Least Concern

 
NatureServe

N5B, N5N - Secure Breeding and Nonbreeding

SNRB - Unranked Breeding

 
Minnesota

not listed

 
     
     
     
     

Description

The upper parts are bluish-gray. The underparts are pale gray.

The breeding male has a black forehead. There is a white eye ring.

The outer tail feathers are white.

The legs are dark.

Size

Total length: 4½

Wingspan: 6

Voice

The morning to noon song is a 10 or more second long jumble of thin wheezy notes, high chips, and high whistles, often including small bits that mimic parts of other bird songs – zeet zeet zeet zill zill zwee zwee …

Similar Species

 

Habitat

Deciduous woodland edges

Ecology

Migration

Late April through August

Nesting

 

Food

 

Distribution

Occurrence

Uncommon migrant and breeder

Maps

The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map

Taxonomy

Class

Aves (birds)

Order

Passeriformes (perching birds)

Family

Polioptilidae (gnatcatchers and gnatwrens)

Genus

Polioptila (gnatcatchers)

Subordinate Taxa

Bahamas Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea caesiogaster)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea deppei)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea nelsoni)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea perplexa)

Cozumel Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea cozumelae)

Eastern Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea caerulea)

San Lucas Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea obscura)

Western Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea amoenissima)

Synonyms

Motacilla caerulea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Christa Rittberg

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

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Other Videos

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Larry Bond

About

Published on Apr 26, 2015

For more information see:
http://ebirdr.com/bird/blue-gray-gnatcatcher

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
MyBackyardBirding

About

Published on Dec 7, 2014

This cute Blue Gray Gnatcatcher is a new species documented in the Backyard! Although I'm sure they've always been in the area they are very hard to spot. The energetic little bird is rapidly hopping through dense brush catching spiders and small bugs on the dew covered vegetation in the morning when bugs are easy picking. It is very difficult to get more than a few seconds of video of these little birds when they are feeding.

The blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is a very small songbird, 10–13 cm (3.9–5.1 in) in length and weighing only 5–7 g (0.18–0.25 oz).Adult males are blue-grey on the upperparts with white underparts, have a slender dark bill, and a long black tail edged in white. Females are less blue. Both sexes have a white eye ring.

New HD videos uploaded weekly. Subscribe at:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=MyBackyardBirding

More info at: http://screech-owls.blogspot.com/2014/12/blue-gray-gnatcatcher.html

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Ricky L Jones

About

Published on May 15, 2015

The blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is a very small songbird, 10–13 cm (3.9–5.1 in) in length and weighing only 5–7 g (0.18–0.25 oz). Adult males are blue-grey on the upperparts with white underparts, have a slender dark bill, and a long black tail edged in white. Females are less blue. Both sexes have a white eye ring.

The blue-gray gnatcatcher's breeding habitat includes open deciduous woods and shrublands in southern Ontario, the eastern and southwestern United States, and Mexico. Though gnatcatcher species are common and increasing in number while expanding to the northeast, it is the only one to breed in Eastern North America. They build a cup nest similar to a hummingbird's on a horizontal tree branch. The incubation period is 13 days for both sexes. Both parents construct the nest and feed the young; they may raise two broods in a season.

-wiki

(C) Copyright Ricky L.Jones Photography 1995-2014 All rights reserved.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5/21/2017
Dalibor Mrkic

About

Published on May 21, 2017

Male and female Blue-gray Gnatcatchers on the nest

 

Camcorder

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