Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are absolutely fearless. Dayna and I unknowingly walked underneath the nest and all hell broke loose. And this was for a nest that was still under construction and not even in use yet. After a couple of photos, we withdrew to a “safe” distance to watch for a while.
Their nest is a gorgeous little thing, about 2 inches across the outside and decorated with lichens secured with spider and caterpillar silk. They’re usually pretty easy to find because while the nests themselves are well camouflaged, the birds tend to be rather conspicuous. So I’ve seen quite a few of their nests and this is only the second that wasn’t in a honey locust, a tree with a trunk that’s more or less a mass of thorns. There was a dense stand of briars around the base of this tree, so it wasn’t like the birds had chosen a completely undefended site.
[…] And as for me, I already knew not to mess with a gnatcatcher. […]