The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a wisp of a bird — tiny, slim, and long-tailed — that flits ceaselessly through the treetops with its tail flicking and cocking, flashing the white outer feathers against the black. Soft blue-gray above and pale below, with a thin white eye-ring and (in breeding males) a fine black eyebrow, it looks a bit like a miniature mockingbird and behaves like a hyperactive one, constantly on the move as it gleans and flycatches for tiny insects and spiders. Its call is a thin, nasal, wheezy "spee" repeated as it forages.
Once mainly a southern bird, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has expanded northward and is now a widespread breeder in Michigan's deciduous and mixed woods, forest edges, and wooded suburbs. It builds an exquisite, compact nest saddled on a branch and camouflaged on the outside with flakes of lichen bound in spider silk, resembling a natural knot on the limb. Arriving in spring and slipping south by early fall, this restless little bird rewards anyone who follows the flicking tail high in the leaves.
Gleans and flycatches tiny insects and spiders from foliage and twigs, flicking its tail to flush hidden prey into moving, then snapping it up. It forages actively and continuously through the canopy and edge vegetation, taking small, soft-bodied insects and their eggs.
It is a very small, slender, long-tailed bird, soft blue-gray above and pale below, with a white eye-ring and a long tail edged in white that it constantly flicks and cocks. It looks like a tiny, hyperactive mockingbird.
A repeated thin, nasal "spee" or "spee-spee" is often a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher foraging overhead. The call, along with the flicking white-edged tail, helps locate this restless little bird.
A tiny, deep cup saddled on a branch and covered on the outside with lichen flakes bound by spider silk, so it looks like a natural knot on the limb. It is one of the most beautifully camouflaged nests in the woods.
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