The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ranges over most of the United States east of the Mississippi, excluding Maine. It can also be found throughout Mexico, Cuba, Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico. During the winter, gnatcatchers migrate to Central and South America.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: BREEDS: Oregon, central Nevada, southern Utah, southern South Dakota, central Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, southern Michigan, southern Ontario, Ohio, western New York, northern New Jersey, southeastern New York, and Connecticut, south to southern Baja California, Guatemala, Gulf coast, Florida and Bahamas. WINTERS: southern U.S. from Virginia along coast south to Central America and Cuba.

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are small birds, with a comparatively long tails. They are bluish-grey above and white below. The color of the bases of the wings blends into the black coloring at the tips. The tail is black with white streaks interspersed. There are prominent thin white rings around each eye.

Average mass: 6.5 g.

Length: 11 cm

Weight: 6 grams

See Dunn and Garrett (1987) for detailed treatment of field identification of this and other North American gnatcatchers.

• Terrestrial

Gnatcatchers enjoy a wide range of woodland habitats, from shrublands to mature forests. They tend to avoid coniferous forests and concentrate largely along habitat edges. Some of their habitats include floodplain forests, lakeside habitats, pinyon-juniper woodlands, and arid, subtropical shrubbery.

Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest

Comments: Deciduous forest, open woodland, second growth, scrub, brushy areas and chaparral (Tropical to lower Temperate zones) (AOU 1983). Also in open pinyon-juniper woodland, where (in Wyoming) it is associated with rosaceous shrubs and rock outcrops (Pavlacky and Anderson 2001).

Nests especially where tracts of brush, scrub, or chaparral are intermixed with taller vegetation (e.g., forest edge, riparian corridors). Often breeds near water. Nest is built in branch or fork of tree or shrub, usually 1-25 m above ground, by both adults (Harrison 1978). NON-BREEDING: Wide range of brushy habitats in winter.

Non-Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species do not make significant seasonal migrations. Juvenile dispersal is not considered a migration.

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Breeding populations north of the southern U.S. are migratory.

Gnatcatchers eat mainly small insects and spiders. They search for food by moving up and down through the outer branches of trees or shrubs. Their preferred foods are (in order from highest amount to lowest): Homoptera (cicadas, aphids), Hemiptera, Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (mothsl, butterflies), Diptera (flies), Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps), and Araneae (spiders).

Comments: Feeds on adult insects as well as their larvae and eggs. Also eats spiders. Forages by darting out from a perch and catching insects in the air; also gleans food from branches.

Breeding pairs establish a territory which the male defends, occasionally assisted by the female. In California, breeding territories averaged 4.6 acres (n = 9); they ranged from 2.2 to 7.4 acres (Bureau of Land Management, no date).

Average lifespan

Status: wild: 50 months.

Monogamous pairs are formed shortly after the return to the breeding range, in late March or April. There is no evidence as to whether these pairs are lifelong or if new pairs are formed every breeding season. The Gnatctacher nests fairly early for a North American songbird, sometime in the month of April. The nest is built by both the male and female, and takes nearly two weeks to complete. Three to five eggs are layed 5-10 days after construction is finished. The male and female both incubate. After another two weeks the young hatch. Both parents bring food to the young. Although both the male and female contribute to the care of the eggs and hatchlings, they do not interact with one another after incubation begins, seeing each other only in passing. They often fledge a second brood together later in the season.

Average time to hatching: 13 days.

Average eggs per season: 4.

Clutch size usually is 4-5. Incubation by both sexes in turn for 15 days. Nestlings are altricial and naked at hatching. Young are brooded and fed by both parents, leave the nest in 12-13 days.

Gnatcatchers have no special status; however, few data have been collected on the effects of human activity on their populations. Their numbers seem to be rising, indicating that subtropical deforestation is having little effect on these birds, which winter throughout shrub-based habitats in Mexico. Management may be needed for microhabitats in the U.S. (such as stream valleys and canopy openings), rather than large areas.

US Migratory Bird Act: protected

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N4B - Apparently Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5B,N5N : N5B: Secure - Breeding, N5N: Secure - Nonbreeding

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Comments: Nominal subspecies weakly differentiated (Dunn and Garrett 1987).