Children playing in snow We all need nature - and nature needs you! Make your tax-deductible gift today. Click to donate.
Family on boardwalk We all need nature - and nature needs you! Make your tax-deductible gift today. Click to donate.
Monarch caterpillar

Find a Bird

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Polioptila caerulea

The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has only nested in Massachusetts since the 1960s, but an abundance of moist forest habitat has allowed the gnatcatcher to prosper since then and today it is fairly widespread as a breeder in the state.
Conservation Status
No Action - Strong Increase

Tracking This Bird In Massachusetts

Climate Vulnerability Score

Least Vulnerable
Mass Audubon Mean likelihood of occurrence (current)
0.49
Mass Audubon Mean likelihood of occurrence (2050)
0.52
Mass Audubon Absolute change in likelihood of occurrence
0.03
U.S. Forest Service Climate Change Bird Atlas (Hadly Hi emissions scenario)a
26.10
National Audubon Societyb
n/a
a USFS model data for Massachusetts by 2100
b National Audubon Society's Climate Change Atlas was completed on a continental scale.

Breeding Bird Atlas

Atlas I Blocks
96
Atlas II Blocks
391
Percent of state occupied - Atlas I
10
Percent of state occupied - Atlas II
38
Percent change
359

Breeding Bird Survey

Annual trend 1966-2010
4.9%
P-value
not significant
Number of routes
13
Recent trend 2000-2010
2.1%

Christmas Bird Count

Trend (1963-2008)
0
Significantly different than zero
Trend (1963-1979)
0
Significantly different than zero
Trend (1979-2008)
0
Significantly different than zero

Habitat Usage

Breeding

Forest, Forested Wetland, Urban and Suburban

Wintering

Does not winter in Massachusetts

Climate Suitability Current and 2050