blue-gray gnatcatcher

He gave me a lot of looks that day! At Huntington Beach State Park, SC

These tiny, cute little birds are perpetual motion machines, scurrying around the trees nabbing insects and seemingly never standing still for even a moment.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea caerulea) Non-breeding plumage.

Same blue-gray gnatcatcher from the other day, this one with a tasty insect. Yum.

This week I had a chance to go on a bird safari around central Texas and the Texas Gulf Coast. Got some good pictures of some magnificent raptors, but in many ways, this little guy stole the show. Except for the Whooping Cranes. That's what's known as a "teaser" for those of you following along.

Not as young as some images I have of a real juvie so I guess I'll go with immature Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ;) Also in between the branches ;)

I believe this is a female and she sure looks worn.

This is the other Gnatcatcher I saw a couple of days and the more I look at it, I'm thinking this is an adult and the one I posted yesterday was an immature. Either way, they were both a surprise and a happy one at that ;)

I don't normally see these wee guys until the Spring time but 2 have been here for 2 days. I wonder if they are doing a late migration. I've been hearing them around my office as well which is 15 miles away from my home.

These Gnatcatchers and Kinglets seemed briefly to be everywhere and didn't seem to notice or care about my proximity, though they almost never stood still. Couldn't resist posting another close up of one that did stop for one moment.

Not the same gnatcatcher as the one that terminated the gnat in the other photo

A branch obscures part of the the Blue-gray gnatcatcher, but I thought it was interesting to see this gnat in the jaws of death and and about to get chomped!

I love seeing these little ones. Usually I hear them for about a week before I get to see them.

;)

I think this may be the same bird in other clue 1 Blue-gray gnatcatcher photo I posted. My memory is not certain whether this the same bird that was foraging on the tree bark that moved or whether it was another bird in the immediate proximity, but the photos were taken only about 30 seconds...

This little bird was foraging in the bark of the tree much like the Black-and-White Warblers that were also in the area. Though it has the white eye-ring and long thin bill, it only show a slight amount of white on the edges of the tail, and the wings are brown rather than blue/gray w/white...