Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing gray catbirds. These birds get their common name from their call which we’ll be discussing a little further in this video! Most of the gray catbird’s range is in eastern North America. It’s here they breed. Gray catbirds are monogamous and nest in dense vegetation often no more than a few feet off the ground. They have two nests per year beginning in April lasting until August. Their eggs are turquoise and they lay one to six per nest. Something amazing about gray catbirds is that they can recognize eggs laid in their nest that aren’t their own. The brown-headed cowbird is a parasitic brooder who lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Many other bird species incubate the cowbird’s egg which eventually takes over the nest, but gray catbirds know to get rid of these cowbird eggs! The gray catbird eggs are incubated, mostly by the female, for fourteen days and the chicks leave the nest about ten days after hatching. They’ll stick around for another two weeks taking meals from their parents. By the same time next year, they’ll be ready to have families of their own. If they can survive that is.

Predators to adult gray catbirds include hawks and falcons while their eggs and nestlings may be taken by blue jays, crows, squirrels, raccoons, rats and more. Those that manage to avoid these threats may live to be more than a decade old! In turn, these birds eat insects and fruits. They’re omnivores and may take food from the tree tops or the ground. In size, gray catbirds have a ten inch (25cm) wingspan and weigh about as much as a standard light bulb. After the breeding season, they head to wintering grounds in parts of South and Central America. While migrating, they form small flocks of up to fifteen members. There are a few places in North America where gray catbirds remain year round as indicated on this map. These birds live in dense vegetation, forest edges and clearings, but they don’t like flying in open spaces. They do well in urban places where forests have been cut back and regrown with underbrush. Specifically, they prefer cone bearing trees.

Gray catbirds are gray in color much as their name suggests. They have black feathers atop their heads and a black tail with a reddish brown rump. In the eastern part of their range they may be darker than those found in western populations. The males and females look alike and are difficult to tell apart from each other. Often one doesn’t see a gray catbird, though, and instead hears them. Gray catbirds are called catbirds because they make cat-like meowing sounds. That’s just one of their iconic calls, though. These birds can produce over 100 unique sounds! They’re part of the mimicking song bird family and they can mimic other animals as well as human-made noises. The gray catbird’s vocal cords are so complex they can manipulate each side of their throat independently of the other, so they can sing two different notes at the same time! Here are some of the different sounds they can make.

Where we live, people say they sound like angry squirrels - have you ever heard one in the wild?

For more facts on gray catbirds, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! Thank you to Sadie for today’s request! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!