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273:, the two birds are differentiated by the amount of black in the tail feathers. The male has a black cap during the summer that extends to the eyes. Females and winter males, lacking the black cap, are difficult to distinguish from the blue-grey gnatcatcher. The best way to tell the two apart is the tail; that of the blue-grey is mostly white when viewed from below, and the black-tailed is predominantly black underneath. Like other gnatcatchers, it may give harsh, scolding calls while foraging for small insects and spiders in desert shrubs.
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Black-tailed gnatcatchers live in pairs all year, defending their territory and foraging in trees and low shrubs for a wide variety of small insects and some spiders. Unlike the blue-grey gnatcatcher, the black-tailed variety rarely catches insects in midair.
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with red-brown dots are incubated by both parents and take 14 days to hatch. The young are fed by both parents, and leave the nest 10 to 15 days after hatching. Even though
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is an open-cup, built by both sexes, and is typically found in low shrubs less than five feet off the ground. If available at the nesting site, desert mistletoe,
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often lay eggs in this species' nests, and the pair end up raising cowbird young, the black-tailed gnatcatcher population seems to be holding up well.
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The black-tailed gnatcatcher reaches about 4.5 to 5 inches in length, much of it taken up by a long black tail lined with white outer
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webs and plant fibers. It is lined with finer, softer matter. Three to five bluish-white
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269:. The body is blue-grey, with white underparts, and while it is similar to the
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in 1857. Meaning 'black-tailed', its specific name is derived from the
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The black-tailed gnatcatcher was described by
American ornithologist
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214:) is a small, insectivorous bird which ranges throughout the
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Steven J. Phillips; Patricia
Wentworth Comus, eds. (2000).
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366:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22711588A132099574.en
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872:Native birds of the Southwestern United States
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842:Endemic birds of Southwestern North America
429:. University of California Press. pp.
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862:Fauna of the Lower Colorado River Valley
230:. It is nonmigratory and found in arid
458:Integrated Taxonomic Information System
425:A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert
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490:Black-tailed Gnatcatcher photo gallery
882:Taxa named by George Newbold Lawrence
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393:(Abridged ed.). United Kingdom:
832:IUCN Red List least concern species
352:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
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893:
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867:Birds of the Rio Grande valleys
341:BirdLife International (2018).
857:Fauna of the Chihuahuan Desert
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852:Fauna of the Sonoran Desert
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494:Photo-High Res--(Close-up)
224:southwestern United States
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359:: e.T22711588A132099574.
297:Phoradendron californicum
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70:Scientific classification
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24:Black-tailed gnatcatcher
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679:black-tailed-gnatcatcher
484:Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
479:Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
206:black-tailed gnatcatcher
877:Birds described in 1857
395:Oxford University Press
390:A Greek-English Lexicon
244:George Newbold Lawrence
454:"Polioptila melanura"
381:Liddell, Henry George
271:blue-grey gnatcatcher
809:Polioptila-melanura
568:Polioptila_melanura
543:Polioptila melanura
513:Polioptila melanura
345:Polioptila melanura
211:Polioptila melanura
179:Polioptila melanura
40:Conservation status
486:at birdfriends.com
234:areas year-round.
220:Chihuahuan Deserts
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791:Open Tree of Life
505:Taxon identifiers
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161:P. melanura
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170:Binomial name
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461:. Retrieved
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385:Robert Scott
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253:'black' and
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765:Neotropical
739:NatureServe
687:iNaturalist
537:Wikispecies
261:Description
837:Polioptila
826:Categories
804:Xeno-canto
463:24 January
328:References
148:Polioptila
277:Behaviour
155:Species:
93:Kingdom:
87:Eukaryota
744:2.101192
731:22711588
705:10194063
643:45510967
594:22711588
589:BirdLife
522:Wikidata
387:(1980).
322:cowbirds
286:Breeding
267:feathers
257:'tail'.
238:Taxonomy
186:Lawrence
133:Family:
107:Chordata
103:Phylum:
97:Animalia
83:Domain:
60:IUCN 3.1
669:2487586
576:Avibase
528:Q901899
431:464–466
251:melano-
222:of the
216:Sonoran
143:Genus:
123:Order:
113:Class:
58: (
796:443273
770:bktgna
718:179857
676:GNAB:
651:EURING
630:bktgna
617:bktgna
556:bltagn
492:VIREO
437:
401:
383:&
314:spider
232:desert
228:Mexico
188:, 1857
783:76587
757:66709
700:IRMNG
656:13190
625:eBird
614:BOW:
306:grass
302:weeds
752:NCBI
726:IUCN
713:ITIS
692:7498
664:GBIF
607:9686
602:BOLD
465:2006
435:ISBN
399:ISBN
357:2018
318:eggs
310:bark
292:nest
290:The
255:oura
218:and
204:The
117:Aves
638:EoL
563:ADW
552:ABA
361:doi
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456:.
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413:^
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355:.
349:.
312:,
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407:.
369:.
363::
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208:(
62:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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