Gnatcatcher in the Don Valley: May 7, 2022

Imagine that you are singing a principal role in “Aida” for the Canadian Opera Company. You perform at your best and rush to read the reviews on-line the next morning. You read this: A thin, squeaky, wheezy series of notes, easily overlooked.

That is how the Peterson Guide describes the song of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. We encountered one today busily gathering lichens and spider webs to decorate its two-inch cup-shaped nest.

blue-gray gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Other birds:

Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole (male)
Mallard (male)
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)
Rough-winged Swallow
Killdeer
Killdeer
Song Sparrow
Killdeer
Rough-winged Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
Baltimore Oriole (male)
Rough-winged Swallows
Yellow Warbler (male)
Rough-winged Swallows

Today’s groups:

8 am:

11:30 am

NATURE POETRY

The songs I have not sung to you
Will wake me in the night
And hover in the dark like birds
Whose wings are tipped with light. – Jessie Rittenhouse

Miles Hearn

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