• Natalie the Gnatcatcher in Tootie’s Backyard.

Natalie

the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Natalie the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher visits Tootie’s backyard each year in the late winter.

Natalie hangs out in the water oak tree and red maple in Tootie’s backyard, foraging for gnats and other flying bugs.

You can identify Natalie by her small size, gray head, back, and wings, white belly, and the white circles around her black eyes. You can identify male blue-gray gnatcatchers by their similar coloration and the black streak in the feathers above their eyes.

Natalie’s Home

Natalie was born in a cup-like nest in a red maple tree in the forest. Both her mom and dad picked the nesting site and built the tiny nest, which was similar to a hummingbird’s, using bark, grass, and plant stems that they tied together with spiderwebs and caterpillar silk.

Her mom lined the nest with feathers and hair to make the nest soft while her dad started working on a second nest.

Natalie and her three siblings hatched from pale blue eggs covered in reddish spots about two weeks after their mom laid them.

Both parents fed them bugs until they left the nest about two weeks later.

What months do Natalie or her family visit your yard?

Natalie’s Hobbies

Natalie lives in the forest south of Tootie’s hometown, and she stops in to see Tootie and Yoshi every year in the late winter. In late February, she migrates to her home in Louisiana from southern Belize where she spends her winters.

Natalie spends her days foraging and singing in the oak trees around Tootie’s backyard. Her call sounds similar to a soft banjo sound and squeaks.

She’s a solitary bird most of the year, and when she visits, she visits alone. However, she will band together with other small birds, like warblers which she is related to, to chase off larger birds and predators. This act of banding with other birds to chase off a threat is called mobbing.

Natalie rarely stops her foraging and is constantly on the move, even when she sings. She does occasionally stop flitting back and forth to preen or clean her feathers.

What activities are the birds in your backyard doing?

Natalie’s Diet

Natalie is an insectivore, meaning that she eats mostly bugs. As a foliage gleaner, she moves back and forth near the outsides of trees, grabbing bugs from the leaves.

Natalie hops from twig to twig as she forages along the outer leaves of the tree searching for her favorite snacks: caterpillars, flies, and spiders. Despite her name, she rarely eats gnats.

Similar to the way, Inour the Mockingbird flashes the white bars of her wings to flush bugs, Natalie pushes her tail up, revealing its white edges, to frighten bugs out of hiding. She will also rob spiders of their prey by plucking bugs from spider webs.

What other animals do you know that are insectivores?

Learn more about Natalie.

Activities

Crossword


1. Bird Natalie is related to.
2. Kind of bird Natalie is.
3. Where Natalie spends her winters.
4. Where Natalie lives.
5. Time of year Natalie visits Tootie and Yoshi.
6. An animal who eats mostly bugs.
7. Bird who has a nest similar to the one Natalie was born in.
8. The act of smaller birds banding together against predators and other threats.
9. What Natalie's mom used to make her nest soft.
10. Instrument that Natalie's songs are similar to.