Gray Catbird

Here's a bird I started seeing about a month ago and is now one of our easiest birds to spot, a Gray Catbird. Before April whenever I'd catch a glimpse of a bird it would usually turn out to be an American Robin, and now when I hear a bird (and manage to locate it) it frequently turns out to be a Gray Catbird.

I don't think the issue is that we now have fewer American Robins, nor that we have a lot more Gray Catbirds than American Robins; the American Robin is in the running for the most common species of bird in North American. I think that the change has to do with 2 factors combining together:

  1. The Gray Catbird is a bolder, louder bird that will vocalize in one spot, sometimes even when it knows it's been spotted by a human.
  2. As the trees leaf out, the quieter American Robin takes advantage of this and hides more effectively.
This doesn't mean that you won't find robins around. But if you're in a place with a lot of foliage, it might be easier to find catbirds instead.

May 5, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 197980860, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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