Grey Catbird
A species of Dumetella Catbirds, Also known as Slate-colored Mockingbird Scientific name : Dumetella carolinensis Genus : Dumetella Catbirds
Grey Catbird, A species of Dumetella Catbirds
Also known as:
Slate-colored Mockingbird
Botanical name: Dumetella carolinensis
Genus: Dumetella Catbirds
Content
Description People often ask General Info
Photo By Photo by David J. Stang , used under CC-BY-SA-4.0 /Cropped and compressed from original 
Description
The grey Catbird is a medium-sized songbird commonly found among thickets and dense shrubs, where it searches for berries and insects. Named after its cat-like call, the grey Catbird is actually able to produce numerous complex sounds. It can mimic the calls of other birds, frogs, and machines much like its close relatives, the mockingbirds.
Size
22 - 23 cm
Life Expectancy
10 years
Nest Placement
Shrub
Clutch Size
1 - 6 eggs
Incubation Period
2 - 3 broods
Number of Broods
12 - 15 days
Nestling Period
10 - 11 days
Feeding Habits
Grey Catbird's diet is 50% fruit, including holly berries, cherries, elderberries, and blackberries. They feed on insects like ants, beetles, grasshoppers, midges, caterpillars, moths, mealworms, and earthworms especially in summer. They can be garden pests, damaging crops like raspberries, grapes, and strawberries.
Habitat
Grey Catbird predominantly inhabits areas with dense shrubbery and vegetation, including edges of woodlands, scrublands, and overgrown agricultural land. They avoid dense forests and pine woodlands, favoring environments with thickets, tangled vines, and young trees, potentially due to the vegetation structure providing protective cover. While not typically found in high-altitude regions, grey Catbird adapts to a variety of climates and is commonly seen in human-altered landscapes like roadsides, fencerows, and residential zones. In its wintering habitat, grey Catbird shows a preference for forested areas and berry-bearing thickets, often in proximity to water.
Nest Behavior
Grey Catbird females build nests over 5-6 days, with males sometimes contributing materials. Nesting involves precise timing for building and egg-laying, with careful parental care for the eggs and young.
Nest Characteristics
Grey Catbird's nest is a bulky, open cup situated in dense shrubs, trees, or vines, often dogwood or cherry. Concealed at about 4 feet high, it's constructed from twigs, straw, bark, mud, and occasionally trash, with a fine lining of grass, hair, rootlets, and pine needles. It measures around 5.5 inches across and 2 inches deep.
Dite type
Insectivorous
People often ask
General Info
Feeding Habits
Bird Feeder Type
Platform
Sounds
Call
Recording location: Mexico
Call
Recording location: United States
Behavior
Grey Catbird engage in a variety of activities throughout their day, including hopping through understory vegetation and executing short, low flights. They exhibit a strong territorial instinct, particularly in the breeding season, with males singing conspicuously and energetically repelling other birds. Uniquely, both sexes maintain respective territories even in winter, which is unusually territorial behavior for that season among bird species. Confrontational displays involve grey Catbird puffing up feathers, tail spreading, and bill pointing upward. A peculiar and somewhat controversial behavior observed is the occasional destruction of eggs and nestlings from other woodland bird species.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Perching birds Family
Mimids Genus
Dumetella Catbirds Species
Grey Catbird 
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