As any reader of this blog should know, Audubon California is actively opposing a petition to remove Endangered Species Act protections from the Coastal California Gnatcatcher. The Southern California developers who filed the delisting petition -- so that they can build on the coastal sage scrub habitat that the bird needs to survive -- contend that the bird is not a distinct subspecies from other gnatcatchers in Mexico. The research behind this claim has been widely criticized by ornithologists and biologists who contend that the DNA makers chosen do not explain the obvious physical differences between the Coastal California Gnatcatcher and other gnatcatchers in Mexico. We thought we would show you those physical differences. WARNING: if you don't like looking at bird specimens, you may not want to read further. (photo above by Robert A. Hamilton)

The following specimens are from the collection of the San Diego Natural History Museum. The birds at the top of each photograph are the subspecies Coastal California Gnatcatchers, while the bottom birds are California Gnatcatchers. It is important to note that the Coastal California Gnatcatchers occur north of the biogeographic break between the Sonoran desert and Baja succulent habitat.

Note that the Coastal California Gnatcatcher has a significantly darker back and far less white on the tail than its counterpart.