Bird In The Bush

A couple of weeks ago I was waiting for the reappearance of the brown thrashers to raise a second brood in the nest they build amongst the throny tangle of dangerous rose bush growing on the north side of the attached garage.  It was not to be.  Instead another songster took-up a position in the bush and struck-up a steady dialog with another of the species perched atop the apple tree along the driveway.


A catbird - Dumetella carolinensis. 

A stunning slate-grey bird with a black toupee the catbird remarkably sounds similar to a brown thrasher.  While brown thrashers will typically sing phrases twice before moving on with the song the catbird usually does not repeat phrases.  Their song consists of squeaks, whistles, whines, gurgles, nasal tones ending with a raspy meow that sounds like a cat.

In any event the catbird pair took-over the thrasher nest and remodeled it with a ring of woven grasses.  Ironically thrashers and catbirds belong to the same family of mockingbirds.

This photo is from Sunday...

Catbirds are typically heard and not seen so we're enjoying this opportunity to see them up-close and personal.  So stay tuned and in the mean time you can learn much more at this link including a selection of calls...