Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird is a slender, medium-sized songbird, uniformly dark slate-gray over most of its body, with a contrasting black cap on the crown and a rich rusty-chestnut patch of feathers under the tail (undertail coverts), a detail that is often hidden but visible when the tail is raised. It has a long tail, frequently held cocked or flicked, and a straight, thin, dark bill.

Related to mockingbirds and thrashers, the Gray Catbird shares their skilled mimicry and improvisational singing style, but is most famous for its distinctive raspy, cat-like "mew" call, which gives the species its common name.

Key Field Marks

• Uniform slate-gray body plumage
• Black cap on the crown
• Rusty-chestnut undertail coverts, visible when the tail is raised or from below
• Long tail often held cocked, thin dark bill

Similar Species

• Northern Mockingbird: paler gray overall, with bold white wing patches and white outer tail feathers, lacking the catbird's black cap and rusty undertail patch.
• Loggerhead Shrike: has a black mask (not cap) and a stouter hooked bill, with white wing patches absent in the catbird.
• No other common North American songbird shares the combination of overall slate-gray body, black cap, and rusty undertail patch.

Habitat

Gray Catbirds favor dense, shrubby thickets, tangled vegetation, woodland edges, hedgerows, and overgrown or brushy gardens, staying close to cover.

Range

They breed across most of the eastern and central United States and southern Canada, and winter in the southeastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Migration

Gray Catbirds are medium- to long-distance migrants, typically migrating at night, moving between northern and central breeding grounds and more southerly wintering areas.

Behavior

Catbirds are often secretive, staying low in dense cover, but they can also be curious and will approach observers who make squeaking noises ("pishing"), often responding with their own scolding calls.

Voice

The song is a long, varied series of musical and harsh notes and phrases, often including mimicked sounds, generally not repeated in the structured pattern typical of a mockingbird; the namesake call is a nasal, cat-like "mew."

Feeding

They eat a mix of insects and fruit, with insects more prominent during the breeding season and fruit becoming increasingly important later in summer and during migration.

Nesting & Breeding

Females build a bulky cup nest low in dense shrubs or vine tangles, typically laying 1-5 deep blue-green eggs. Catbirds are known to sometimes recognize and eject the eggs of brood-parasitic Brown-headed Cowbirds from their nests, a relatively rare defense among host species.