California Gnatcatcher in breeding plumage Terranea Resort Palos Verdes Penninsula California 155
I knew I had a California Gnatcatcher when I heard the call. It is a big treat to find one and a real challenge to get a decent photo.
"The little gnatcatchers inhabit coastal sage scrub year-round and are not a terribly difficult bird to identify, that is, assuming one gets a decent look or hears one calling. If the bird is being difficult and staying hidden in the brush it can be difficult to differentiate a Polioptila californica from a Polioptila caerulea, better known as a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, especially in winter when the latter species occurs in large numbers across all suitable habitat in southern California.
My one encounter with a California Gnatcatcher over the holidays occurred when I was digiscoping some rather cooperative Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in some sage scrub just south of Carbon Canyon Regional Park. I would occasionally pish a bit when the gnatcatcher I was shooting would work its way too high up the hill that it was foraging on and it would return and continue to forage much closer to me. Because there were several gnatcatchers around their calls became rather ingrained into my brain. After one pish I heard a different call. I recognized it as a gnatcatcher call but it sounded thinner, more plaintive, and just plain different. I quickly spotted the source of the call, a gnatcatcher with more of a brownish coloration on both its back and wings and a buffyish coloration on its back underparts. I was pretty sure that I was dealing with a California Gnatcatcherbut I wasn’t one hundred percent on my identification until I got a good look at the undertail."
10000birds.com
California Gnatcatcher in breeding plumage Terranea Resort Palos Verdes Penninsula California 155
I knew I had a California Gnatcatcher when I heard the call. It is a big treat to find one and a real challenge to get a decent photo.
"The little gnatcatchers inhabit coastal sage scrub year-round and are not a terribly difficult bird to identify, that is, assuming one gets a decent look or hears one calling. If the bird is being difficult and staying hidden in the brush it can be difficult to differentiate a Polioptila californica from a Polioptila caerulea, better known as a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, especially in winter when the latter species occurs in large numbers across all suitable habitat in southern California.
My one encounter with a California Gnatcatcher over the holidays occurred when I was digiscoping some rather cooperative Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in some sage scrub just south of Carbon Canyon Regional Park. I would occasionally pish a bit when the gnatcatcher I was shooting would work its way too high up the hill that it was foraging on and it would return and continue to forage much closer to me. Because there were several gnatcatchers around their calls became rather ingrained into my brain. After one pish I heard a different call. I recognized it as a gnatcatcher call but it sounded thinner, more plaintive, and just plain different. I quickly spotted the source of the call, a gnatcatcher with more of a brownish coloration on both its back and wings and a buffyish coloration on its back underparts. I was pretty sure that I was dealing with a California Gnatcatcherbut I wasn’t one hundred percent on my identification until I got a good look at the undertail."
10000birds.com