Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and the Gray Days of Winter

Winter may be a cold and dreary time of year across most of North America, when trees are bare and skies are gray, but here in California's Great Central Valley, winter is an excellent time for birding and exploring the woods and wetlands close to home.  Because despite the cold, the birds are out there in abundance!

Last week, while birding at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge, I was delighted to encounter quite a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers out and about along the trail.  These little dynamos were out in force all day, calling emphatically from the shrubby growth as they flitted actively from twig to twig.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

These little birds' small size (they're only about four inches long), active habits and predilection for staying deep in their shrubby habitat can make them difficult to get good looks at, much less photograph!  (Just take a look at how unsuccessful I have been in the past!)  But this guy was pretty cooperative, moving about and foraging for insects along the edge of the trail with a merry band of other micro-birds, like Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Bushtits. 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Though fairly widespread in North America, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are never very common or abundant.  Fiercely territorial, the first hint that you've stumbled onto a gnatcatcher's turf is an emphatic but rather soft call, a bit like a wheezy mewing.  It's easy to miss, but also easy to identify once you know what to listen for, and a sure sign that you're in the right place.  Blue-gray Gnatcatchers inhabit a range of wooded habitats, preferably edge habitat in broadleaf or mixed forests with a shrubby understory near water.  

Clearly these little mites find the habitat at San Joaquin River NWR to their liking, because it seemed like no sooner had I left one little wheezing bird behind along the trail, than I ran into another one in the next patch of chaparral!  

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Along with the gnatcatchers were quite a few active Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  This one paused just long enough for me to snap a photo through the bare branches.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Another species of note that turned up on my bird walk was a brilliantly yellow Wilson's Warbler, sporting his jaunty black cap (or bad toupee, if you prefer).  This little guy should be down in Mexico for the winter, so seeing him dart across the path and pause on a branch before diving into the brambles was quite the surprise!  One more overwintering bird I found that "should" be elsewhere was a Swamp Sparrow, foraging quietly beneath a tangled mass of branches along the edge of the wetland.

Swamp Sparrow

Singing California Thrashers popped up at regular intervals along the chaparral-lined trail as well.  (I spotted three together in one shrub along the edge of the parking lot!)  Found only in chaparral habitats of California and Baja, this species had pretty much vanished from the floor of the Central Valley due to habitat loss.  As habitat has been restored at San Joaquin River NWR, the thrashers have returned and now breed on the refuge!

California Thrasher

As much as I dislike being cold, winter is easily the best season in the Valley for an abundance and diversity of birds.  And, in my opinion, the muted winter scenery is nice too!

San Joaquin River NWR wetlands

For more scenery and birds, read about two more of my winter walks at the San Joaquin River NWR here and here.

San Joaquin River NWR pond