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Diana Whiting | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery : Birds > Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
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Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

The Blue Gray Gnatcatcher is one of our smallest birds and the only Gnatcatcher in the Northeast US. It arrives in later spring and silently the pair build one of the most beautiful nests next to the hummingbird's. Where other bird's nests could be a pile of loose sticks this is the Ritz Carlton of nests! Using spider webs and plant down a tiny cup is built in a crotch of a slender tree high above the ground. One of the pair would deposit the material, and using their breast turn like a sundial forming the cup for the eggs. The nest reportedly can take from one to two weeks of constant work. This one is not finished as it will eventually have lichen stuck to the whole outside of the nest. I'll show some pictures of it finished because it's quite a work of art. For reasons unclear, the pair will not immediately use the nest, but wait up to ten days before they lay eggs.


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