To remind Tweeters, Sherry & Arden Hagen reported in the attached note
that they observed both a male and female BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER at
Hardy Canyon on May 26. At the same time, I acknowledge that Ruth &
Patrick Sullivan, who were evidently observing and photographing on
the same day, reported seeing only a male, and observers since that
date have apparently reported only a male.

Is it possible that a pair of gnatcatchers was present on May 25 and
26 (and possibly on earlier dates), but that the female has not been
seen since then? Stranger things have happened. Anyway, Sherry seems
pretty certain that she saw both a male and a female gnatcatcher.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at shaw.ca




----- Original Message -----
From: Sherry Hagen <littlebirder at netzero.net>
To: message tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 10:52 AM
Subject: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (pair?)


> Yesterday (May 26th), my husband Arden and Glenn & Mary Ann Teague
went to
> see the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher at Hardy Canyon since we were at the
Audubon
> Wenas Campout. We were there for quite a long time watching and over
that
> period of time we are certain that we were watching two different
birds....
> male and female. One had the blackish line by the eye and a little
darker
> cap. The other's head was solid lighter gray with a nice white eye
ring and
> no dark line. We saw both through the scope and the "female" came
close to
> the road down near the big pine tree. We never saw the two together
butone
> time, one bird we were watching flew down the canyon to the sage
brush and
> all of a sudden there was a bird at the nest then it took off and
one flew
> over our heads from the west and went to the nest area. Either the
bird is
> very very fast and changes head patterns or there are a pair.
>
> O> Sherry Hagen
> _/_)_ Vancouver, WA
> / littlebirder at netzero.net
>