Month: January 2025

Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

A sampling of wild creatures seen on a visit on a day in January in Florida.

Jerome Arizona

In the 1890s, Jerome, Arizona, thrived as a booming copper mining town with a reputation for its wild and often lawless environment.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2025

Our Clerodendrum/Starburst tree is just about to blossom. Loved by the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that eats aphids, hemipterans, beetles, moths, butterflies, flies, ants, bees, wasps, and spiders; forages by moving up and down outer branches of trees or shrubs. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: flycatcher-like perching bird with blue-gray upperparts, white underparts, and prominent white eye-ring. Wings are dark. Black tail is long and white-edged. Female tends toward grayer tones.

Range and Habitat

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: Breeds from southern Oregon, Wyoming, Minnesota, the Great Lakes region, southern Ontario, and New Hampshire southward. Spends winters from southern California to the Gulf coast and the Carolinas. Preferred habitats include deciduous woodlands, streamside thickets, live oaks, pinyon-juniper, and chaparral. (iBird Pro)