Gray Catbird

Regular Summer Resident

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) is a regular summer resident here.  It usually appears in late May and leaves in September or October.  It breeds in all of southern Canada and all of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.  It winters in the southeastern US, Mexico, northern California and the Caribbean Islands.  It is a member of the Mimidae family which contains the mockingbirds and thrashers.  These birds, as their family name suggests, are mockers or mimics.  They copy the songs of other birds and sing them repetitively and lustily. 

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird can be found hiding in bushes and its presence is usually discerned by its variable vocals.  Its voice is a mixture of various squeaks and squawks interspersed with a cat-like 'mew'.  It also mimics other birds' songs but usually attaches some kind of squeak or mew before or after the mimicked song.  It is really quite fun to listen to the antics of this bird.

Catbirds are secretive and usually only peak out at you from among the dense vegetation in which they usually reside.  There they find their food:  insects, spiders, fruits, berries, and seeds.  They usually feed on the ground or in shrubs or low trees.  When feeding on the ground they toss leaves aside looking for insects.  They are curious birds and often peak at you from among the foliage if you squeak or 'spish' at them.  See below as a catbird peaks out at the camera.

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird is 22 cm long (8.5 inches).  Males and females are similar in appearance.  The body is a dark gray and they have a black cap and black tail.  Under the tail is a cinnamon patch which is often difficult to see.  See the cinnamon patch in the photo below.

Gray Catbird Showing Cinnamon Undertail Coverts

An interesting fact about the catbird is that it is able to identify its own eggs and therefore is not as susceptible to parasitism from Brown Cowbirds as some other species.  It sees the cowbird egg as not its own and pushes the alien egg out of the nest.  Discerning birds!

Gray Catbirds are very interesting New Brunswick breeding birds.  Look and listen for them around your yard or while on your next hike.