{"id":47460,"date":"2017-06-27T04:45:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T10:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47460"},"modified":"2022-05-11T04:10:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T10:10:14","slug":"perched-gray-flycatcher-eating-a-damselfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/27\/perched-gray-flycatcher-eating-a-damselfly\/","title":{"rendered":"Perched Gray Flycatcher Eating A Damselfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GrayGray Flycatcher with Damselfly – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR w\/1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not a set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo was taken at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in August of 2009 which is just before these flycatchers migrate south for the winter. When I first spotted the Gray Flycatcher it was flitting around in some dead shrubs along the auto tour loop. Gray Flycatchers are found throughout the sagebrush of the Great Basin and are known for the way they constantly move their tails downward. These flycatchers capture flying insects on the wing or from the ground and are found in forests where there ponderosa pines, junipers, pinyon pines or sagebrush steppes.<\/p>\n

I have to say that Gray Flycatchers move fast which can make it a challenge to track them with a long, heavy lens. As I watched the Gray Flycatcher it flew towards me, snatched a damselfly from mid air then landed on a dead branch not too far away and proceeded to eat it while I photographed the bird. The light was wonderful, the setting appealing and the action was great. I don’t think I could have asked for a better background either. I was able to take a series of images of this flycatcher eating the damselfly.<\/p>\n

I would love to have more opportunities with flycatchers, they are very interesting to observe and photograph.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Gray Flycatcher photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

This is a revised, updated version of an older post that I thought was worth sharing again.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I watched the Gray Flycatcher it flew towards me, snatched a damselfly from mid air then landed on a dead branch not too far away and proceeded to eat it while I photographed the bird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,413,26],"tags":[415,4286,701,5241,3808,4884,2421,4094,2558,4104,2315,298,4095],"class_list":["post-47460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-gray-flycatcher","category-utah","tag-damselfly","tag-eating","tag-empidonax-wrightii","tag-empids","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-gray-flycatcher","tag-marsh","tag-odonata","tag-perched","tag-summer-3","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-damselfy-mia-mcpherson-utah-8063.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-clu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13870,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/26\/gray-flycatcher-at-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":47460,"position":0},"title":"Gray Flycatcher at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Gray Flycatchers are generally found in sagebrush and arid busy habitats so it was a real treat to see this one in the marshy habitat of the refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gray Flycatcher eating a Damselfly, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-damselfly-utah-mia-mcpherson-8065.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-damselfly-utah-mia-mcpherson-8065.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-damselfly-utah-mia-mcpherson-8065.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-damselfly-utah-mia-mcpherson-8065.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":175721,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/05\/09\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-picking-up-nesting-material\/","url_meta":{"origin":47460,"position":1},"title":"Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Picking Up Nesting Material","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week I caught a flash of gray, white and salmon-pink next to a dirt road at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. It was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roadside Scissor-tailed Flycatcher picking up nesting material, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7179.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7179.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7179.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1317.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1317.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1317.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1317.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22840,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/25\/shades-of-gray-in-three-bird-species\/","url_meta":{"origin":47460,"position":3},"title":"Shades of Gray in Three Bird Species","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been gray for a couple of days and it supposed to be gray until this front passes and while gray days can get me down gray birds lift me back up.","rel":"","context":"In "Bahamas"","block_context":{"text":"Bahamas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/bahamas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Gray Partridge running through a field in Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-adult-mia-mcpherson-1335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-adult-mia-mcpherson-1335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-adult-mia-mcpherson-1335.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/least-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1694.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/least-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1694.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/least-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1694.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/least-flycatcher-mia-mcpherson-1694.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/08\/gray-flycatcher-perched-in-fragrant-sumac\/","url_meta":{"origin":47460,"position":5},"title":"Gray Flycatcher Perched In Fragrant Sumac","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"As it turns out this flycatcher gave me a wonderful behavioral clue that made identifying it a little easier for me because I watched it wag its tail slowly up and down repeatedly while perched which Gray Flycatchers are known to do.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gray Flycatcher in Fragrant Sumac, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-2906.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-2906.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/gray-flycatcher-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-2906.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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