The Gray Catbird is named for its most distinctive sound — a whining, cat-like "mew" that comes from deep inside a thicket. A sleek slate-gray bird with a black cap and a hidden patch of rusty-red under the tail, it belongs to the same family as mockingbirds and thrashers, and like them it is a gifted mimic. Its song is a long, improvised medley of squeaks, whistles, and imitations, strung together without repetition.
Catbirds are birds of dense cover — hedgerows, brushy thickets, garden shrubs, and woodland edges — where they skulk more than they show. Common breeders throughout Michigan from May into fall, they are drawn to fruiting shrubs and will visit yards offering berries, raisins, or grape jelly. Curious and bold once comfortable, a catbird will often pop up to investigate a soft sound before diving back into the tangle.
Roughly half insects and half fruit over the year. It eats beetles, ants, caterpillars, and grasshoppers in the breeding season, then leans heavily on berries and soft fruit in late summer and fall. At feeders it takes fruit, raisins, mealworms, and grape jelly.
Almost certainly a Gray Catbird. Its raspy "mew" call sounds remarkably like a cat and comes from within dense shrubs, giving the bird its name.
Yes. Like its mockingbird and thrasher relatives, the catbird is a mimic, weaving imitations and invented notes into a long, rambling song that rarely repeats a phrase.
Plant native fruiting shrubs for cover and food, and offer fruit, raisins, mealworms, or grape jelly. Catbirds favor dense thickets and shrubby garden edges over open lawns.
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