Tag Archives: Gray Catbird

For the Birds: Sit or walk? Easy call

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I pulled into the tire shop for my appointment the other day, handed over the keys and asked how long it would take. The nice gentleman said it would be at least an hour, but that I was welcome to sit in the waiting area and help myself to coffee.

It was an ideal late summer/early fall day and the fall migration was well underway, so I decided to take a walk instead.

I gave the guy my cell phone number, asked him to give me a call when the truck was ready, and set out to find the nearest place where I might find some birds.

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Catbirds of summer

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Photo by Chris Bosak A gray catbird perches on a branch in New England, July 2020. Merganser Lake.

A Day on Merganser Lake

What would summer be without catbirds? A lot less interesting, that’s for sure.

The bird above is doing its cat-like call. The bottom photo shows the rusty spot under the tail, which is not often seen.

Photo by Chris Bosak A gray catbird perches on a branch in New England, July 2020. Merganser Lake.

Catbird on an axe

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Photo by Chris Bosak A gray catbird perches on an axe in New England, June 2020. Merganser Lake.

A Day on Merganser Lake

I wondered to myself, would a bird land on an axe if I left it in the backyard. A gray catbird answered my question a few minutes later. Gotta love those catbirds.

Photo by Chris Bosak A gray catbird perches on an axe in New England, June 2020. Merganser Lake.

Ballerina catbird

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Photo by Chris Bosak
A gray catbird perches on a branch in New England, May 2020. Merganser Lake.

This gray catbird struck a rather interesting pose the other day. Catbirds are one of the great characters of the bird world.

Photo by Chris Bosak A gray catbird perches on a branch in New England, May 2020. Merganser Lake.

Birds to brighten your day: May 6

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Photo by Chris Bosak A gray catbird perches on a deck railing in New England, April 2020. Merganser Lake.

A Day on Merganser Lake XVI

Catbirds aren’t known as big feeder birds, but this one stopped by briefly for a mealworm or two. I haven’t seen it since. This photo shows the rusty patch under its tail, which is not always shown. During the dog days of summer, sometimes it seems that a few catbirds are the only birdlife to be found. Welcome back to New England!

(Repeat text for context:  I’m running out of COVID-19 lockdown themes so from now until things get back to some semblance of normalcy, I will simply post my best photo from the previous day. You could say it fits because of its uncertainty and challenge. I’ll call the series “A Day on Merganser Lake,” even though that’s not the real name of the lake I live near in southwestern Connecticut, it’s just a nod to my favorite duck family.)

Photo by Chris Bosak
A gray catbird perches on a deck railing in New England, April 2020. Merganser Lake.

Latest For the Birds column: Gray Catbirds’ time to shine

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Gray Catbird perches on a thorny branch in Selleck's/Dunlap Woods in summer 2014.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Gray Catbird perches on a thorny branch in Selleck’s/Dunlap Woods in summer 2014.

Here’s the latest For the Birds column. Thanks for supporting http://www.BirdsofNewEngland.com

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It’s a rare summer that goes by without me writing a column about catbirds.

Aside from robins, they are perhaps the dominant songbird of a New England summer. At my new home, chipping sparrows may give them a run for their money, but gray catbirds are certainly a reliable daily sighting.

Throughout much of the year, I feel, the catbird is overlooked. Of course, they are migratory so we don’t even see them during the colder months. Therefore, it’s understandable that we don’t think too much about them in the winter. I have seen a few over the years on Christmas Bird Counts, but that’s pretty rare.

That leaves spring, summer and fall for us to enjoy the gray catbird. In the spring we are overwhelmed with the number of songbirds passing through. Also, the birds that nest in our area start that process in spring, so that’s another demand on our attention. The catbirds arrive in spring to little fanfare.

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Clearing out my 2014 photos, Take 5: Gray Catbird

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Gray Catbird perches on a thorny branch in Selleck's/Dunlap Woods in summer 2014.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Gray Catbird perches on a thorny branch in Selleck’s/Dunlap Woods in summer 2014.

Here’s my next photo in the series of 2014 photos that I never got around to looking at and posting.

I probably overlooked this photo because I have so many Gray Catbird photos. In the summer in southern New England, birds can sometimes be scarce as they are busy raising families and hiding from potential predators. Catbirds, however, always seem to be around. They aren’t always in the open, but they are more so than the other birds. Birders and nature photographers with itchy “clicking fingers” are thankful for the photo ops Gray Catbirds give us in the summer.

Gray Catbird and its red undertail coverts

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Gray Catbird perches on a branch at Selleck's Woods in Darien, Conn., May 2014.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Gray Catbird perches on a branch at Selleck’s Woods in Darien, Conn., May 2014.

The Gray Catbird is very aptly named because, well, it’s mostly gray and often sounds like a cat. I say mostly gray because it has a small black cap on its head and has rusty red undertail coverts. That red patch is not seen very often and many casual observers of birds probably don’t even know the Gray Catbird has that patch of red.

Undertail coverts are the area of a bird under the tail and behind the legs. The photo above shows this catbird’s patch of rusty red.

With the spring migration season starting to wind down, much of New England will be left with only its breeding birds to watch for a few months. Thankfully, the charismatic Gray Catbird is among them.

Click “continue reading” for a catbird’s closeup.

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