![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/BlueGreyGnatcatcherBug1OnNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNature Photography Tip for the Sensitive: Never Zoom In Too Closely On What a Bird Is Eating<\/h2>\n
One of the worst things about using a telephoto lens and a high resolution camera is that when you get home and look at your photos, you get to see exactly what birds eat. Sometimes it\u2019s really, really gross. Other times, though, it can help you identify new insects in your area, like the possibility of Leopard Moths at the Rattray Marsh<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Anyway, for the photos here, I won\u2019t zoom in too closely as I don\u2019t want to \u201cbug\u201d anyone!<\/p>\n While I was watching, the Gnatcatcher spent most of its time hunting in a large goldenrod patch. It would perch on a twig or on a bit of Virgin\u2019s Bower clematis, then snatch a catch and rest again before eating it. I saw it select more than 4 kinds of insects during a few minutes before it moved on to other activities.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t till two weeks later, when looking at my photos for this article, that I noticed something unusual about this little bird: it\u2019s wearing a silver bracelet. This tiny bird had been banded.<\/p>\n I had thought this was a juvenile Gnatcatcher when I was watching it. I made that mistake mostly because it was plainly coloured and because it was willing to hunt so close to me. (Many young birds are less wary of humans.) I had been surprised at how efficiently it was hunting, catching more than 4 insects in fewer than 2 minutes but that just made me cheerful about its likelihood of reaching adulthood.<\/p>\n Given the band, however, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a juvenile. I\u2019m not aware of anyone banding in Riverwood and a juvenile would not yet have migrated past any of the common banding sites, like Tommy Thompson Park or Ruthven Historic Site.<\/p>\n Given it\u2019s not a juvenile, I then thought this is most likely a female Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Alas, none of my photos show the id letters or numbers so I can\u2019t report it to the bird banding authorities. If I could, they could give me interesting information about when it was banded and where. It might tell me how old the bird is or if it has travelled to any exciting destinations.<\/p>\n Of course, I will keep an eye out for it again but there are several pairs of Gnatcatchers at Riverwood and once nesting is complete they will likely disperse and move around. And as anyone who has watched these birds knows, they don\u2019t stay still long. Even if my dozen photos only two show the band on its leg.<\/p>\n Still, it\u2019s nice to have another reason to stop and watch the birds!<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong> Telephoto lenses can reveal good things, like what’s special about this particular Gnatcatcher, but also gross things which I won’t bother to share with you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[97,666,152,22],"class_list":["post-6254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","tag-banding","tag-bird-bands","tag-blue-gray-gnatcatchers","tag-insects-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6254"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6265,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254\/revisions\/6265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
\nHunting successfully<\/em><\/p>\nGoldenrod Serves Up a Feast of Insects for a Patient Blue-gray Gnatcatcher<\/h2>\n
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\nThe Goldenrod dwarfs the Gnatcatcher and I noticed something else….<\/em><\/p>\nBelated Banded Blue Gray Gnatcatcher Identification<\/h2>\n
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\nI wish I could read this band!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAnother snack<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWrong again! Apparently, the females are not grayer than the bluer males. I\u2019ve often seen pairs where that seemed to be the case, but both the AllAboutBirds website and the Sibley\u2019s field guide do not say there is a colour difference between the sexes. So it could be a male or a female.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nWhy Do I Wish I Could Read and Report the Bird Band Markings?<\/h2>\n
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\nHave you ever reported a banded bird? Please share your story, or sighting of a Gnatcatcher, with a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"