California ID (1 Viewer)

Fulmar

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #1

Any Californians, or others familiar with these birds, can identify the bird in the attached photo? As always (you know that) the bird just turned its head when I made the photo, and before I could make a second one, it had disappeared into the brush and didn't reappear again (that sounds familiar too?).

For the ID I have come as far as a Gnatcatcher, but which one? The photo was made in the brush along the New River at Fig Lagoon, a bit west of El Centro, Imperial County, California. I think three species of Gnatcatcher could appear there, the Black-tailed, the California, and the Blue-gray. Unfortunately I didn't see the underside of the tail which would have revealed all, but maybe some of you familiar with them recognize it anyway? The photo was made February 15.

Thanks for your help,
Peter

 

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Edward woodwood

Member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #2

Black-tailed?

looks a tad dark for Blue Gray and there doesn't appear to be enough white in outer rectrices

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2004

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streatham

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #3

i'll take a wild guess at california - as this bird seems grayer underneath than the blacktailed - but i've only ever seen black-tailed in the field so i'm waiting for a western birder to prove me completely wrong

 

Katy Penland

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #4

It sure looks like a CA gnatcatcher to me, although I've never seen one quite this brownish, although the low, warm light could be influencing that a bit. The faint white on the tail sides, the length and shape of the tail, the pointy bill, and the classic droop to the wing as the bird's perched, scream "gnatcatcher."

I'm in AZ now a couple years but formerly of CA, does that count?

 

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streatham

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #5

phew katy agrees with me!

 

Katy Penland

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #6

Whew, Streatham agrees with *me*! B

 

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Edward woodwood

Member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #7

Is 'Californian' a recent split? Guess it must be....what from?

must be from black-tailed? Can't imagine it's from black-capped

I've never heard of it before

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2004

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streatham

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #8

yeah it's a split from the black-tailed tim - was regarded as a race of bt up until then

 

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Edward woodwood

Member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #9

aha! thanks for quick reply Streatham

so California ssp must have reduced white in tail and shorter bill cf Black tailed. Is it a distributional split?

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Mar 5, 2004

• #10

They also have different calls according to Sibley. Would be interested to know if there's a zone of overlap in their ranges and, if they do, whether they tend to favour different habitats.

 

Glen Tepke

Oceanodroma

• Mar 5, 2004

• #11

If it is California Gnatcatcher, then it is unusually far inland and in the wrong habitat. El Centro is in the desert but CA Gnatcatcher is a bird of coastal sage scrub. See:

http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/mapdocs/scrub/2002/cagnmap2002.html

El Centro is along the southern border of the state, about 2/3 of the way east (right) from the west (left) coast, i.e., well to the east of the range shown on the map. Glen

 

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Edward woodwood

Member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #12

cheers Glen
so still possibly Black-tailed ?

 

Glen Tepke

Oceanodroma

• Mar 5, 2004

• #13

Yes, I think El Centro would be at the western edge of the range of Black-tailed. Also in the winter range of Blue-gray. Glen

 

Charles Harper

Régisseur

• Mar 5, 2004

• #14

I think it may be BT-- narrow white on outer tail feathers and tertials-- but BG (obscura) cannot be ruled out, because of the rather large bill.

I have seen three of the gnatcatchers (not Black-capped, dammit), but not since the late '80s.

 

Fulmar

Well-known member

• Mar 5, 2004

• #15

I can add that the area around El Centro where the bird was photographed is mainly irrigated farmland, not desert. So it is not really the California Gnatcatcher's sage scrub. The bird was active in the taller brush on the riverside of the New River where it flows into the Fig Lagoon (I have to add that "rivers" in California are called streams in Europe) . Also the map link given by Glen (very good, thanks for that!) more or less rules out the California.

Katy, the light is not warm evening light if that is what you mean, as the photo was taken in the morning around 0900-1000h.

Peter

 

Glen Tepke

Oceanodroma

• Mar 5, 2004

• #16

Fulmar said:

I can add that the area around El Centro where the bird was photographed is mainly irrigated farmland, not desert.

Click to expand...

I should have been clearer that the natural habitat around El Centro -- if it was not irrigated -- is desert or near desert. The coastal sage scrub and chapparal habitats of the coastal ranges do not extend that far inland. The resident birds are mostly desert species like BT Gnat. I can also add that CA Gnatcatcher is nonmigratory and not known for wandering outside of its range. Glen

 

cuckooroller

Registered User

• Mar 5, 2004

• #17

El Centro would be absolutely desert if there were no irrigation. Also has a date palm industry there for what that is worth.

 

Charles Harper

Régisseur

• Mar 5, 2004

• #18

Shall we chat about El Centro? I was there last September. Came over the last desert hill from San Diego in the west after an hour of rock and scrub, and a vast oasis of green fields appeared, dotted with hundreds of White-faced Ibis and Cattle Egret. Took my breath away.

 

Larry Lade

Moderator

• Mar 6, 2004

• #19

To me the bird in the photo most closely resembles the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher in Sibley's field guide. Most noteably the white edging in the tertials (as also noted by Charles, above).

 

Katy Penland

Well-known member

• Mar 6, 2004

• #20

Glen, that PRBO map and site is most interesting. If you look at the 2001 version for CAGN (there's a button on the 2002's page), and compare it to the 2002 version, you'll see how the confirmed breeding areas are moving decidedly inland, and that the habitat is more grassland than chaparral (or sage scrub). We used to see CAGN fairly regularly on the Palos Verdes Peninsula (the squarish jut of land sort of pointing toward Catalina Island), but with more and more development including (stupidly) a golf course, there's no longer any undeveloped ground from Palos Verdes Drive to the edge of the cliffs, and less and less above the Drive.

I'm not arguing for CAGN here, just pointing out that, if PRBO's two maps are a possible indicator, there's no reason to discount this sp is moving more and more inland. If I'm reading PRBO's maps correctly, it looks like they've got study areas set up on the CA/AZ border, well beyond El Centro. Not that they've had any birds reported there yet, but I thought it interesting that they were located that far inland for a species that has not historically ranged that far.

Hey, Charles, gotta come to southern AZ! The black-capped have bred in Patagonia the last couple years!