Tag Archives: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Early Migrant Passerines, August 17, 2022

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher (click to see the larger version)

We’re about a month from the peak of songbird migration but we’ve been seeing small numbers of warblers and flycatchers for a few weeks. This is typical and expected. Migration starts as a trickle and gradually gains momentum until the peak. Some of these early migrants include Least, Yellow-bellied and Olive-sided Flycatchers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Cape May, Bay-breasted, and Black-and-white Warblers among others. August is shorebird month but after you’re done checking the beach head up to the Magic Hedge for some early warblering.

Picking Up (Migration, That Is), August 16, 2021

Baltimore Oriole

Adult male Baltimore Oriole (click to see the larger version)

We’re about a month from peak landbird migration but we’ve been getting a steady trickle of Empidonax flycatchers, cuckoos, Baltimore Orioles, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and a few warblers, all expected late summer/early fall migrants. On the flip side, the Tree, Bank, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows that were such a visual and noisy presence in the Dunes have moved on. We’re still seeing Barn Swallows and Purple Martins, but the martins are getting restless and will be gone in a few weeks. Link to my eBird checklist for August 16 below.

eBird Checklist
August 16, 2021

August Blue-gray Gnatcatchers

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (click to see the larger version)

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are one of the first passerines to begin migrating south in summer. We’ve been seeing them almost daily and usually in multiples since early August. A few gnatcatchers were seen at Montrose during the summer and may have nested there and at other locations nearby. This one held still long enough for a snap. Taken on August 5, 2020.