Gnatcatchers may be tiny little birds but they are also loud. Yesterday on a bird walk I'd swear we heard gnatcatchers everywhere. They move so fast that they often just looked like a blur to my eyes; that is one reason that I picked such a high shutter speed.
Weighing only 6 grams they aren't much bigger than a hummingbird. Pete Dunne describes them as "A tiny pale sliver of a bird that seems to dance more than forage through the canopy and understory—a twig fairy. More slender than warblers, gnatcatchers call attention to themselves by the hyperactive twitching..."
I photographed this one last week in a wild plum thicket here at the Prairie Garden Trust.
Canon 1DX 600 II+2X TC f/9 1/2,000 sec ISO 2,000 Manual Exposure Tripod Processed with Lightroom 5 & Photoshop CC
I love these guys and only seen them once (they are rather rare up here). I really love the spring setting here with a clear view of this little flitting fella. Good comp too. Looks properly focused but probably got a tad soft after resizing.
Addendum: disregard the softness comment, my monitor settings were out of whack this a.m...adjusted and looks fine now.
Last edited by Daniel Cadieux; 04-28-2014 at 08:35 AM.
Nice to capture him on such a lovely perch. Good choice on the high SS -- they are indeed very twitchy little things. There are pairs actively building nests all around our area right now. Fine image.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher—a twig fairy
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