This is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that was looking for insects to feed a fledgling Brown-headed Cowbird (see next bird image). Unfortunately, this songbird had no idea it was raising another bird's offspring. Female Cowbirds are notorious for laying their eggs in the nests of other birds. They abandon their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. This is difficult to see as someone who is passionate about birds because songbird species are declining as they are parenting another species offspring at the expense of their own offspring, which usually perish as the much larger cowbird grows and out feeds the small songbirds.

Blue gray Gnatcatchergnatcatchersongbird