Hi all,

This may not be of interest to anyone but myself, but this afternoon I discovered a blue-gray gnatcatcher's nest in the black locust in our backyard--it's way high up there so I can only see it from below, but cool nonetheless! I'd suspected for a while that this pair might be breeding here, as they fuss at me tirelessly whenever I go stand out on the deck. That brings the total of birds I've observed nesting in our yard this season to four: American robin (still in the construction phase), mourning dove (currently sitting on the nest) and tufted titmice (recently fledged) were the others. The titmice made a nest in a crack in the same black locust, and I've now been seeing the young birds at the feeders and fluttering around awkwardly in the trees. Cute!

Claire Nemes
Rockville, MD