Hello Arthur and tweeters,
I am glad you ask me the queston about a female been sighted.I think we was
the clostes on this bird only few feet away.And thank you Arthur suggesting
to waite on one particular spot to stay for a while where this male made an
appearence several times.And we saw only a male came back far away in such
speed,no one could follow this bird.I saw birders going from one end to
onother this to see a glimpse.I would also mention that we went to the place
again on Monday morning.I went to the bush and photographed the nest this
bird was building,as i was standing the Gnatcatcher appeared,and went direct
as i was standing close to the nest on the nest,what i was photographen.It
was again the bright male.So long birders not seeing both bird close by
there is no proof that there are two birds.I took almost 75 photos of this
male and if there is a female there should be least few photos of this bird.
I certainly think it would be verry nice if we had a pair of the Gray
Gnatcatcher breeding in our state,but we must get the proof first.I will get
my photos back tomorrow,and Dennis would be so kind to scan them,so every
one can see if there is a female in one of the photos.
And thank you Arthur to pick this spot for me to get so close on this bird.

Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma
----- Original Message -----
From: "M.A.D." <agrimes94 at earthlink.net>
To: <ipaulsen at krl.org>; <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 9:22 PM
Subject: RE:Blue-gray Gnatcatcher....a pair does beat one of a kind!


> Ian and Tweeters:
> I was with Ruth and Patrick Sullivan viewing the Gnatcatcher for a good
> 2 or 3 hours and we (patrick and I) were the first to notice him
> collecting nesting material and building a nest about 10 feet or so from
> the spot we had pick to sit and wait for photo opportunities. Since the
> bird was moving rapidly from one end of his territory to the other, we
> felt it best just to pick a spot and wait for him to come to us. It was
> mere luck that we even picked that particular spot. I chose it because
> it was in a slightly higher area with a good overall view with some
> rocks to sit on. We could see and hear the bird vocalizing up and down
> the range and I noticed him going to some tall thin bushes and peeling
> off small strips of bark and carrying them back to a "sagebrush"
> looking bush next to us. He repeated this behavior over and over. He
> would occasionally take off again up and down the territory but he
> always returned to the nest site. He didn't seem to mind us being there
> at all. We never saw a female or heard another bird. I believe and I
> think Patrick and Ruth Sullivan will concur that there was only one bird
> on the site at that time. I'm sure if there was a female we would have
> seen it. Maybe a female arrived on the 27th. but as of Sunday the 26th.,
> only one bird was present. I think it would be really unlikely that
> there were two birds. This bird moved extremely fast up and down it's
> territory and maybe some birders assumed it must have been two.
> But, Hey, I've been wrong before. ;-)
> Patrick and Ruth... have you formed an opinion yet as to whether or not
> there was a second bird (female) present?
>
> arthur
> agrimes94 at earthlink.net
> Edmonds, Wa.98020
>
>