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.
Birds of New England.com 