tags: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, photographed at Smith Point, Chambers County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Can you tell me the sex as well as the species for this individual?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) - the gray colour, long tail and pattern of white on the outer retrices suggest a gnatcatcher. The lack of a brown wash on wings rules out the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (Polioptila melanura), also found in Texas.
Posted by: Michael | December 11, 2009 10:15 AM
You can make out the beak, too, especially in the larger view, and it works well for Blue-gray Gnatcatcher also.
Posted by: John Callender | December 11, 2009 10:48 AM
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, while it occurs in Texas, doesn't come very close to Smith Point. It also should show a more graduated tail. In this bird, the two white-tipped rectrices that are visible are nearly the same length as the central ones. In a Black-tailed, they would be distinctly shorter.
So, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher for another reason.
Posted by: psweet | December 11, 2009 12:45 PM
Hmm, not much left here for me to do except determine gender, with females being a paler grey than males and also tending to have a slight brownish tinge to the wings, I'm going to hazard a guess that this is a female...
Also, of the nine subspecies recognised, only two are found in the US:
amoenissima, breeds in western US (southern Oregon east to southwest Wyoming) South to western Mexico ; non-breeding southwest US (central California, western and central Arizona, southern New Mexico, western Texas) and Mexico;
and caerulea, breeds from southeastern Canada, eastern Nebraska, central Kansas, central Texas and southern Florida; non-breeding southeast US South to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador;
therefore this would probably be the nominate Polioptila caerulea caerulea
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Posted by: joshua | December 11, 2009 8:20 PM