Dave:
Good question you posed. My observation over the past 30 years in
Virginia is that this species has become increasingly common in suburban
and perhaps even urban areas locally. I hypothesize that this might have
something to do with the size and mix of tree plantings that go into new
development and street plantings.
This species uses a lot of tree leaf "fuzz" in its nest construction--
often using sycamore leaf hairs in its more typical native plant
community habitats but I wonder if it can just as easily use the more
disease-tolerant London plane, a common introduced street tree in more
urban areas. I have also noticed it very actively and regularly feeding
on the insects at the flowers of honeylocust, our only commonly planted
tree whose flowers approach the huisaches/mesquites/acacias that the bg
gnatcatcher and its relatives associate with so commonly in the US
southwest. Thornless honeylocust cultivars are very commonly planted as
street trees throughout our area but the species itself is introduced
here as cattle feed perhaps and as a street tree from west and south of
Virginia.
Craig Tufts
<Birdconsv@xxxxxxx> 07/11/05 9:22 PM >>>
I guess I need to clarify my post of this morning. Several people have
now written to inform me that gnatcatchers do breed in this area. I'm
not sure whether to be amused or miffed, as I am neither a new birder
(50+ years) or a new resident (30+ years). My point was that this
species doesn't, to the best of my knowledge based on decades of
observation, breed in Fairlington Village or its immediate environs. Of
course, I know that they breed in the DC area, but what I was trying to
find out was whether other people were starting to see them, or any
other species, moving around in areas outside their normal breeding
areas/habitats. My sighting this morning simply struck me as unusually
early for such movements. One of the respondents did suggest that such
was likely. I'll try to be much more precise in future posts and assume
nothing as a given.
Good birding
Dave Davis
