Blue-gray gnatcatcher | |
---|---|
Call recorded in Minnesota | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Polioptilidae |
Genus: | Polioptila |
Species: | P. caerulea |
Binomial name | |
Polioptila caerulea (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
Synonyms | |
Motacilla caeruleaLinnaeus, 1766 |
The blue-gray gnatcatcher or blue-grey gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is a very small songbird native to North America.
It is 10–13 cm (3.9–5.1 in) in length, 6.3 in (16 cm) in wingspan, [2] and weighing only 5–7 g (0.18–0.25 oz). [3] [4] Adult males are blue-gray on the upperparts with white underparts, slender dark bill, and a long black tail edged in white. Females are less blue, while juveniles are greenish-gray. Both sexes have a white eye ring.
The blue-gray gnatcatcher's breeding habitat includes open deciduous woods and shrublands in southern Ontario, the eastern and southwestern United States, and Mexico. Though gnatcatcher species are common and increasing in number while expanding to the northeast, [5] [ full citation needed ] it is the only one to breed in Eastern North America. They migrate to the southern United States, Mexico, northern Central America (Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras), Cuba, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Cayman Islands.
These birds prefer humid areas with large leaves, woodlands, and more open sandy areas with sparse trees where they mainly eat insects, insect eggs, and spiders. The males often work to build nests, help incubate and raise the young, as well as feed the children, often thought to be a mother's role. Their nests are often built far out on a tree's branch with spider silks and lichen plants holding them together. [6] They may hover over foliage while snatching prey (gleaning), or fly to catch insects in flight (hawking)spider. The tail is often held upright while defending territory or searching for food.
The songs (and calls) are often heard on breeding grounds, (usually away from nest) and occasionally heard other times of the year. Calls: "zkreee, zkreee, zkreee", Songs: "szpree zpree spreeeeey spree spre sprzrreeeee"
Both parents build a cone-like nest on a horizontal tree branch, and share feeding the young. The incubation period is 13 days for both sexes, and two broods may be raised in a season.
The orchard oriole is the smallest species of icterid. The subspecies of the Caribbean coast of Mexico, I. s. fuertesi, is sometimes considered a separate species, the ochre oriole or Fuertes's oriole.
The Western Kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher found throughout western environments of North America, as far south as Mexico.
The western wood pewee is a small tyrant flycatcher. Adults are gray-olive on the upperparts with light underparts, washed with olive on the breast. They have two wing bars and a dark bill with yellow at the base of the lower mandible. This bird is very similar in appearance to the eastern wood pewee; the two birds were formerly considered to be one species. The call of C. sordidulus is a loud buzzy peeer; the song consists of three rapid descending tsees ending with a descending peeer.
The bay-breasted warbler is a small species of songbird in the New World warbler family, Parulidae. It is one of thirty-four species in the diverse genus Setophaga. Like all songbirds, or passerines, the species is classified in the order Passeriformes.
The northern parula is a small New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America from southern Canada to Florida.
The scissor-tailed flycatcher, also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and swallow-tailed flycatcher, is a long-tailed bird of the genus Tyrannus, whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. The kingbirds are a group of large insectivorous (insect-eating) birds in the tyrant flycatcher (Tyrannidae) family. The scissor-tailed flycatcher is found in North and Central America.
The Iquitos gnatcatcher is a bird in the family Polioptilidae. It was first described in 2005. It is known only from the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, west of Iquitos, Peru.
The California gnatcatcher is a small 10.8 cm (4.3 in) long insectivorous bird which frequents dense coastal sage scrub growth. This species was recently split from the similar black-tailed gnatcatcher of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. This bird is often solitary, but joins with other birds in winter flocks.
The black-tailed gnatcatcher is a small, insectivorous bird which ranges throughout the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is nonmigratory and found in arid desert areas year-round.
The lesser greenlet is a small passerine bird in the vireo family. It breeds from northeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.
The tropical gnatcatcher is a small active insectivorous songbird, which is a resident species throughout a large part of the Neotropics. There are large geographical variations in its voice and plumage, resulting in some populations sometimes being considered separate species, notably the bilineata group as the white-browed gnatcatcher, and the taxon maior as the Marañón gnatcatcher.
Hammond's flycatcher is a flycatcher in the family Tyrannidae. This small insectivorous bird inhabits the coniferous and mixed forests of western North America. The name of this bird commemorates William Alexander Hammond who was the surgeon general of the US Army. Hammond collected bird specimens for Spencer Fullerton Baird.
The American gray flycatcher, or American grey flycatcher, or just gray flycatcher as it is known in North America, is a small, insectivorous passerine in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is common in the arid regions of western North America, especially the Great Basin. From sagebrush steppes to pinyon-juniper woodlands and ponderosa pine forests, this flycatcher forages for insects from shrubs or low tree branches.
The black-capped gnatcatcher is a small songbird in the family Polioptilidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States.
The white-lored gnatcatcher is a species of bird in the family Polioptilidae. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
The masked gnatcatcher is a small songbird in the family Polioptilidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The creamy-bellied gnatcatcher is a species of bird in the family Polioptilidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
The Cuban gnatcatcher is a species of bird in the family Polioptilidae, the gnatcatchers. It is endemic to Cuba.
The Inambari gnatcatcher is a species of bird in the family Polioptilidae. It is endemic to Brazil.
The Yucatan gnatcatcher is a species of bird in the family Polioptilidae. It is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.