Showing posts with label Catbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catbird. Show all posts

Friday, July 22, 2016

Gray Catbird Singing



Unlike their classic cat-like "meowing call" the Gray Catbird sings much like a Mockingbird - a close relative. Unlike the Mockingbird the Catbird is often hidden in heavy cover and you probably hear its song more often than you know. But when you hear the "mewing call" there is no doubt of the Catbirds presence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfWx6W7B1V0
Gray Catbirds are close relatives of mockingbirds and thrashers, and they share that group’s vocal abilities, copying the sounds of other species and stringing them together to make their own song.
Male Gray Catbirds sing a long, halting series of short notes collected into "phrases," which combine to make a song. One whole song can last many minutes. Sounds include whistles, squeaks, gurgles, whines, and nasal tones. The notes often are imitations of other birds as well as of frogs and mechanical sounds. The series of sounds is random, but certain notes are often repeated. While mockingbirds tend to repeat phrases three or more times, and Brown Thrashers typically sing phrases twice before moving on, Catbirds usually don’t repeat phrases. Females sing infrequently, and when they do, their songs are sung more quietly.


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Gray Catbird Singing

Friday, April 18, 2014

Catbird and Blue Jay Friends



My efforts to befriend a Gray Catbird had it at arm's length, but my old Blue Jay Buddy would have none of that. These two birds really show their emotions in their eyes and are obviously extremely intelligent!
For background on my Blue Jay friend see:

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Sunday, March 16, 2014

Gray CatBird Mewing Call



The mewing call of a Gray Catbird. They are called catbirds for a very good reason - their habit of making cat-like sounds!

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Gray Catbird Mewing

Video:  Gray CatBird Mewing Call

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Catbird Produces, Directs, Writes, and Stars in His Own Movie!



Gray Catbird at Suet Feeder stars in own movie



Catbird - the Movie. Catbirds have never been known to be shrinking violets. This Catbird raises the bar by producing, directing, writing and starring in its own movie! But its not just any movie, Catbird came up with the novel idea of a bird movie....within a bird movie. Sort of an art house concept. Brilliant! Big stars can be hard to work with - in this case Catbird had a tendency to wipe it's greasy beak on the camera equipment between takes.

Truth be told I had a camera trap set up for woodpeckers feeding on a suet holder but this Catbird had taken to calling the suet his own and vigorously defending it for several days. You will note he quickly chases away a Yellow-Rumped Warbler who also had a taste for suet and would have to sneak in a bite whenever the Catbird wasn't looking.

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Backyard Bird Bath Time Lapse Video

An Afternoon of Bird Visits In a Few Minutes



6 1/2 Hours of Backyard Bird visits in 20 minutes!

I'm in the process of testing the suitability of a Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam HD Trail Cam for use in Backyard Birding applications and will include results in future Blog posts. For now, here are some preliminary results using the Trail Cam to capture video of birds - and a few small furry creatures - that visited one of our small birdbaths during the course of a recent afternoon. Initial results are promising, but of course there are limitations. More to come - In the meantime, enjoy the video!