Coastal California gnatcatcher

The coastal California gnatcatcher, Polioptila californica californica, is a small non-migratory songbird and the northernmost subspecies of the California gnatcatcher. It lives in and around coastal sage scrub in coastal southern California and northwestern Mexico, its range reaching El Rosario in Baja California. It is about 11 centimetres long and weighs up to 6 grams, with dark grey upperparts, light gray and white underparts, brownish wings, a long mostly black tail with a few white outer feathers, a thin small bill and white eye rings; males grow a black cap in summer. It eats mostly insects, including ants, flies, moths, true bugs, beetles, caterpillars and spiders, and it is territorial while breeding, with territories of 1 to 6 hectares and about four eggs a clutch. It was listed as a threatened species under the US Endangered Species Act in 1993 and has never been delisted, although the IUCN considers it a species of least concern. The estimate of no more than 1,000 to 1,500 pairs in the United States has since grown, and up to 90 percent of its habitat has been lost to urban and agricultural development.