Rondeau Ric

  A friend called me to tell me where this nest was. Far way and high up so we weren't disturbing the birds. Definitely 4 chicks and there may have been a fifth. Heavy crop and processing. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 21, 2025. Polioptila caerulea Pairs use spiderweb and lichens to build small, neat nests, which sit on top of branches and look like tree knots. A Blue-grey Gnatcatcher's nest is a neat, cup-shaped structure about  2-3 inches (5.1 to 7.6 cm) wide.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher taking food out of a spider's web. Rondeau Provincial Park, Aug 5, 2023. Polioptila caerulea The nesting range of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers has been shifting northward since the early twentieth century. Over the last quarter of that century, the shift was about 200 miles, in concert with increasing average temperatures source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

May2, 2020, Southwestern Ontario, Canada. They only pause for a moment so you best be fast on the shutter. Polioptila caerulea A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers can build up to seven nests in a breeding season. They often re-use nest material from previous nests, which speeds re-nesting. This can be essential to breeding success, since predation, nest parasitism, or mite infestations frequently cause nest loss and brood failure. source -  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/…/Blue-gray_Gnatcatc…/overview

Blue-grey gnatcatcher, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 31, 2019. Watched gnatcatchers recycling an old nest to construct a new one. I didn't see this nest in use. Polioptila caerulea A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers can build up to seven nests in a breeding season. They often re-use nest material from previous nests, which speeds re-nesting. This can be essential to breeding success, since predation, nest parasitism, or mite infestations frequently cause nest loss and brood failure. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue-gray_Gnatcatcher

Blue-grey gnatcatcher, May 15, 2018, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. I was doing a search of my photos for cat images. Everything that has cat as part of a key word came up, so you are getting a gnatCATcher image. Polioptila caerulea The nesting range of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers has been shifting northward since the early twentieth century. Over the last quarter of that century, the shift was about 200 miles, in concert with increasing average temperatures. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue-gray_Gnatcatcher