blue gray gnatcatcher north carolina | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

By Sally Siko

A sure sign that spring is here is marked by the arrival of the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.
I spotted several this morning while birding near my home in central North Carolina.
Happily these little guys were super curious about my presence in the woods so they kept flying in close to get a look at me. Normally Gnatcatchers are kinda hard to photograph since they tend to zip around at a zillion miles per hour but not these two lol!
Both birds actually moved through the brush at a slower than usual pace often pausing to eyeball an insect or to inspect their surroundings which led to some excellent photo opportunities for me. 🙂

Among the smallest birds in North America, only measuring around 4.5 inches (11 cm) in length.
What they lack in size they make up for tenfold in energy! They are highly active birds, constantly flitting about in search of insects to eat. Gnatcatchers are known for their agility and can even hover briefly while catching insects in mid-air.
Again, despite their pint size, they’ve got a surprisingly loud and complex song too which makes them easy to locate in the field. Their vocalizations include a series of high-pitched, nasal notes often described as sounding like “spee-spee-spee.”

The Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are just now making their way up the east coast of the United States heading north for their breeding season ahead.
They are found throughout all 100 counties of North Carolina, and will stick around the Tarheel state through mid October.
Be in the lookout for them this summer and enjoy every second with them!

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

She the color slate
She look irate
But most important
She done a levitate
😉

Check out this gravity defying Blue-gray Gnatcatcher I photographed yesterday morning while birding at Greenfield Lake in Wilmington NC.
This tiny bird was moving so quickly that it was difficult to even get my lens on her as she flitted through the grass.
In the end I think I took about 20 shots before coming away with just these two images which when it comes to photographing speedy Gnatcatchers is actually pretty good haha!

These little birds have a good reason to stay on the move as Blue-gray Gnatcatchers dine primarily on fast flying insects which are made all the more scarce during the winter.
They are agile flyers and are perfectly capable of snatching a small insect right out of midair.
Weirdly enough though, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers rarely eats gnats which is kinda odd.

Though they are locally more abundant across the state during the summer months, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are a year round resident of North Carolina.
Once the temperatures drop, they tend to head east into our far southern coastal areas to spend the winter where the six or eight legged food choices remain abundant.
From October through April look for them broadleaf evergreen trees, such as those found in maritime forests, or mixed-pine hardwood forests.
Isn’t she lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my beloved beast, the mighty mirrorless @canonusa #R5