Gnatcatcher in flight

Today was Earth Day, the wonderful holiday for naturalists and conservationists everywhere, and my day for celebrating by taking groups of local middle school science students out for a hike to sample the local environment. The kids were great, the weather was fine although cold in the beginning (mid-30s when I left the house at 7:15), and we saw some interesting things—nothing spectacular, but the crew enjoyed using their eyes and ears, and they did find that Caddis Fly larva especially fascinating. Before I left for home, I went on a solo walk to check out a bird habitat I'd found during a prior exploring trip, and while I was already pretty sure I'd heard and spotted Bluegray Gnatcatchers that had returned late last week, here was proof. We definitely had gnats annoying my students; were they with me I could tell them that now we also had a gnat's worst enemy in residence. Rest easy, kids. Help is on the way.