gnatcatcher

American  

[nat-kach-er] / ˈnætˌkætʃ ər /

noun

1. any tiny insect-eating, New World warbler of the genus Polioptila, having a long, mobile tail and a slender bill.

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gnatcatcher British  

/ ˈnætˌkætʃə /

noun

1. any of various small American songbirds of the genus Polioptila and related genera, typically having a long tail and a pale bluish-grey plumage: family Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers, etc)

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Etymology

Origin of gnatcatcher

First recorded in 1835–45; gnat + catcher

Example Sentences

And if it is feeling somewhat cosmopolitan, the blue-gray gnatcatcher goes by its French name - Gobemoucheron gris-bleu.

From Washington Times • May 12, 2018

In 2010, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a petition based on an earlier DNA analysis of gnatcatcher cells by Zink.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 31, 2016

This finding contradicted a century’s worth of work based on evidence of physical differences between the coastal California gnatcatcher and gnatcatchers found elsewhere.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 31, 2016

In September the fish and game commission, bowing to construction-industry arguments that protecting the gnatcatcher would cost the state $20 billion and 200,000 jobs, decided not to list the bird.

From Time Magazine Archive

The only nest like the hummingbird's, and comparable to it in neatness and symmetry, is that of the blue-gray gnatcatcher.

From In the Catskills Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs by Burroughs, John