A Black-tailed Gnatcatcher snags an insect from a Palo Verde tree. These agile and active desert dwellers flit between branches in virtual non-stop motion.
Ants, caterpillars and spiders are a few of their diet preferences. They glean the thicket and tangles for most any insect their size.
A Black-tailed Gnatcatcher is only five inches long from tip to tail and weighs the equivalent of a nickel.
This one's in non-breeding winter plumage.
A close relative to the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher is the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is sporting his more colorful breeding plumage.
This photo is from my files. I found him in the Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve, Grafton, WI in May 2013.
Gnatcatchers are feisty little birds, aggressive enough to face-down birds twice their size.
Their nests can be parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds. But, if caught in the act, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher will run off the much larger cowbird.
It's all about food and where to find it.
If you have a bug in your bill already, you can afford to pause and look at someone taking your picture.
It will be over quickly.
Allan
Credits: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
The Sibley's Guide to Birds
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