Gray Catbird

Dumetella carolinensis
Mockingbird family (Mimidae)

Habitat:
Dense thickets of shrubby vegetation.

Description:
Slender, 7 ¾” long.  All gray with a black cap.  Reddish-brown patch under the base of tail.  Long tail is often cocked upwards.

Nesting:
Open bulky nest built in dense woody vegetation, 3 to 10 feet above the ground.  Eggs are dark bluish-green.  Clutch size – 3 to 4 eggs.

Song:
Song is a squeaky unmusical series of mimicking chirps and whistles.  Its repertoire may include syllables of more than 100 different types, sung in random order at an uneven tempo.  Call is a catlike “meow”.  Sometimes calls perfectly imitate a cat meowing.

Name Origin:
Dumetella:  dumus, Latin for “thorn bush”; -ella, Latin for “little”; literally “little one of the thorn bush”; carolinensis, “of Carolina”.

In the Nature Park:
Neotropical migrant, arrives in early May.  Common in dense shrubby vegetation.