Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)

Abundance: Fairly Common mid-April to mid-September, Uncommon late March and late September, Very Uncommon early to mid-March and October; Occasional during Winter; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); the Regional breeding population is probably stable (see also Remarks [below] and Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan). 

Status: Summer Resident; Visitor during winter (2 records; see Out-of-Season (Winter) Records below); specimen (6 June 1938; Coopersville, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); photograph [ventral view of adult] (Edmund K. LeGrand; Jackson County, Tennessee; 12 April 2008).

Regional High Count and SBC/SBB High Count: 226 (10 May 2008; Putnam County, Tennessee [SBC]; m. ob.); FBC/FBB High Count: 13 (15 September 2007; Putnam County, Tennessee [FBC]; m. ob.).

Out-of-Season (Winter) Records:

23 December 2009 (1) Lake Tansi, Cumberland County, Tennessee (Michael J. Hawkins, Carol D. Williams photo, Douglas A. Downs), a CBC record.

17 December 2015 (1) Hurricane Bridge Recreation Area, DeKalb County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman), a CBC record.

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: 6 March 1986 (Pickett County, Tennessee; J. David Hassler; Stedman 1986c); Next Earliest: 20 March 1982 (Barren County, Kentucky; Russell Starr; Stamm 1982c; Palmer-Ball 2003) and 20 March 2011 (Putnam County, Tennessee; Stephen J. Stedman).

    Late Fall: 19 October 2003 (Jackson County, Tennessee; Stephen J. Stedman; Casteel 2004a); but see also Out-of-Season (Winter) Records (above).

    Note: Spring arrival usually widespread by 10 April; fall departure largely complete by 15 September.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for the years 2002–2011 follow:

* See also Out-of-Season (Winter) Records (above).

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent).  Nest usually placed at mid-canopy height well out from trunk on top of a horizontal branch; nest covered in lichens so has appearance of knobby protuberance on branch; construction usually complete before leaf emergence is complete, so nest often visible; adults often active around nest during construction and during the feeding-of-young stage of breeding.

Habitat: Fairly mature forests of a variety of types, but occasionally second-growth forests in the mid-stages of succession.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 24 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 55 (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004, leading to a YardWatch frequency classification of Fairly Common each year; this YardWatch frequency classification is concordant with the overall Regional abundance classification.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: A total of 100 or more gnatcatchers has been recorded at least once during Spring Bird Counts (SBCs) or Spring BirdBlitzes (SBBs) in 9 Regional counties (Regional SBC data), indicating a moderately large gnatcatcher population in those counties during late April and early to mid-May.  Some of the gnatcatchers counted during the SBCs and SBBs were probably late migrants, but most, perhaps the vast majority, were undoubtedly locally breeding birds.  Foray results (above) from 11 Regional counties surveyed from 2008 to 2011 indicate that gnatcatchers are widespread in low to moderate density in those counties.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited