Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

I am learning how to find and photograph small birds. It has been very difficult for me. They are hard to see, they tend to be very quick, they are obscured by branches and leaves and their smaller size, along with those other factors, makes them hard to photograph. 

The blue-gray gnatcatcher is one of those kinds of birds. Males have blue-gray upperparts, white underparts, a slender dark bill, a long black tail edged in white and a white eye ring. Females are less blue. 

The first ones I photographed were at the IRWD (Irvine Water District) San Joaquin Marsh in Irvine, California on January 17, 2022. The first two photos are one bird and the third photo is a different bird. 

This could have been a decent photo, but the auto focus snagged the branch to the left which was closer to me, one of the hazards of photographing small birds. 

My best photos, taken at IRWD a year later, on January 7, 2023 - this and the following two photos. 

My last photo, taken on June 18, 2025, was taken near the Chilao Visitor Center in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. I don't see any clear lines above the bill and eyes in my photos, but the first photos are pretty dark blue, so the first photos must be male and the others are females. 

Range from Birds of the World.

American Oystercatcher

We visited the coast of southern Texas in November 2021 during the Covid pandemic and spent some time in Aransas NWR. One of the wonderful activities we did was a Whooping Crane and Coastal Birding Tour with Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures where we boated across Aransas Bay into the dredged shipping channel between Bludworth Island on the east and the peninsula which forms the eastern barrier for Dunham Bay. On the eastern end of the shipping of the channel where it was quite shallow we saw an American oystercatcher, a wonderfully fun looking bird. It has a long orange beak, yellow eyes with orange orbital rings, faded pink legs, a black head and neck, brown-black upper body and white lower body. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

They feed almost exclusively on shellfish and other marine invertebrates, including oysters, mussels, clams, limpets, sea urchins, starfish, crabs and worms. They look for mollusks with a partially opened shell, then jab their bill into the shell and sever the muscle that causes the shell to clamp shut. They also probe the sand for soft-shell or razor clams or carry loose shellfish out of the water and hammer at it. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

It is found on the Atlantic coast of North America from Massachusetts to northern Florida, the gulf coast, the Caribbean, and south to Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. It is also found on the Pacific coast of California, Mexico, Central America, Peru and Chile. 

Slate-Throated Redstart

The slate-throated redstart, also surprisingly known as the slate-throated whitestart, is a beautiful bird I saw on March 18, 2022 at the Mashpi Amagusa Preserve in the Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador. My photos are horrible, but clear enough to reveal the shape and gorgeous colors. 

There are 12 subspecies and I believe I saw ssp. verticalus which is found in south Ecuador to central Bolivia, southeast Venezuela, west Guyana and north Brazil. Other subspecies have red and pinkish-orange underparts. 

Illustration of ssp. verticalus from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Common Yellowthroat

As I look at e-Bird lists for various place in our area of Southern California I'll often see yellowthroats and I've only ever gotten one view and my photos were horrible. It is a bird I would really like to get more acquainted with. The one I saw was at Irvine Ranch Water District in Irvine, California. I had three identifiers confirm it on iNaturalist. 

 

Illustration of male ssp. trichas from Birds of the World.

Illustration of female ssp. trichas from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Black-Throated Gray Warbler

The black-throated gray warbler has black, white and gray plumage with a small yellow spot on the lores. It has a black head and throat with a white superciliary and submustachial areas; the upperparts are gray with black streaks on the back and two white wing bars; the underparts are white with black streaks along the flanks. I saw one on September 25, 2025 in Condon Park in Grass Valley, California

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.

Plain-Backed Pipit

The plain-backed pipit is found in Africa and has nine-subspecies. I saw one on July 19, 2025 near Nkima Forest Lodge about Lake Victoria and the Mabamba Swamp in Uganda. As I look through the subspecies descriptions for the plain-backed pipit, and their geographical locations I can't find one that matches. 

I got a number of photos, but this bad photo is the best one I got. 

Illustration of Ssp. omoensis from Birds of the World. 

Range map from Birds of the World.

Pied Wagtail

The pied wagtail (Motacilla alba), as it is referenced on iNaturalist, or white wagtail as it is referenced on Birds of the World, is a bird I'd seen previously, in Lisbon, Portugal, for example, but had never gotten a recognizable photo of one. I finally photographed a couple of them on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle in County Kilkenny, Ireland on July 5, 2024. The pictures were taken with a cellphone and are not good quality. I posted unedited photos on iNaturalist and got 4 identifiers to agree with the assessment. For this post I've cropped and edited the photos in Lightroom to provide a grainy, but better view. 

There are 11 subspecies, 9 recognized by everyone and 2 less universally recognized. I saw ssp. yarellii which is found in Ireland and Great Britain. The ssp. in the north part of the range winter in North Africa and Spain, while those in the southern part of the range are resident year-round. This ssp. has a blacker back than the nominate ssp., and is thus also known as the black-backed wagtail. The black of the throat continues on the side of the neck. 

Illustration of a ssp. yarellii female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of ssp. yarellii male from Birds of the World. 

Range map from Birds of the World. 

On December 18, 2024, while doing the Central Range in Kaziranga NP in India, we saw a different ssp., alboides, found in the area around the Himalayas. It has a black back, a lot of black around the head, a white wing panel, and white edges on the secondaries and tertials. 

This illustration of ssp. alboides, aka Hodgson's white wagtail, is of a female. 

This illustration is of the male ssp. of alboides, Hodgson's white wagtail.