Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (immature and adult)

This is a southern species, reaching its northern limit in southern Ontario and wintering from southern USA to Cub and Guatemala. Everything about this restless sprite spells excitement, constantly flitting about , fanning and cocking its tail, uttering high-pitched squeals like a high soprano catbird, busily gathering lichens and spider webs to decorate its two-inch cup-shaped nest.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (immature)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (immature)

It reminds me of a diminutive mockingbird in colouration: blue gray above and whitish below, with flashes of white in the wings and edges of the tail, but with its black eye set in a white face.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (immature and adult)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (immature and adult)

Dr J Murray Speirs