Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

I've been fortunate enough to see and hear about ten of these little fellas in my few years of birding experience.  I've seen them in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah.  These are a pretty tiny birds, similar in size to a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and flit about the mid-sized bushes near water stirring up bugs to eat with flicks of their tail.  They are very responsive to pishing and will make a close approach to investigate.

While reading up on this cute little gnatcatcher, I noticed that most all the drawings and photos showed a dark bill, not the yellowish bill with dark tip as seen in my photos.  The Stokes Field Guide and Crossley do show the winter plumage bird and it does have that lighter colored bill.  It looks pretty gray most of the year, but I did once see this bird with a blue hue at the Juniper Rest Area right near the Idaho-Utah border.

Animated map of eBird sightings showing annual migration pattern.