Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Polioptila melanura
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, 1/15/08, Yaqui Well, Anza Borrego Park, San Diego Co
The Black-tailed Gnatcatcher of the southwest desert is distinguished from the much more common and widespread Blue-gray Gnatcatcher by a mostly black undertail; this can barely be seen in the profile photo above, but on the left is a detail from another shot of the same bird, showing the undertail more clearly. The dark mark over the eye is also a distinguishing mark, found on the non-breeding Black-tailed male, but not on the Blue-gray.
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