Gray Catbird

Look for

A sleek, slate-gray songbird with a black cap, long black tail, and a rich rusty patch under the tail (visible when they tip up). Slimmer than a mockingbird, same shape family.

Size: ~8.5" — between a sparrow and a robin.

Listen for

• Call: a cat-like "mewww" — gives them the name. Often given from inside a thicket.
• Song: a long, jumbled, creative series of phrases, each given only once before the next — unlike Mockingbird (3+ repeats) and Brown Thrasher (2 repeats).

Where in Memphis

Dense shrubbery. Catbirds love tangles, brambles, hedges, overgrown edges.

• Backyards with shrubs or hedges
• Shelby Farms edges
• Overton Park brushy areas
• Wolf River thickets
• Lichterman Nature Center

Summer breeder — arrives mid-April, gone by late October.

Behavior

• Secretive — most of the time inside dense cover.
• Sings from exposed perches — but dives back into shrubs.
• Eats fruit avidly — grape jelly on a porch feeder is a catbird magnet.
• Open-cup nesters in dense shrubs.

Story

The "mew" that names them

The plaintive meowing call is strange — it genuinely sounds like a small cat. A catbird in the yard can confuse a dog for minutes.

The one-time-through singer

The Memphis mimic triangle: | Species | Phrases | |---|---| | Northern Mockingbird | 3+ repeats | | Brown Thrasher | 2 repeats | | Gray Catbird | 1 (no repeats) |

All three are in the Mimidae family — mimic thrushes. Their different singing styles are a classic teaching moment for new birders.

They can sing two notes at once

Like all songbirds, catbirds have a syrinx with two voice boxes. Unlike most, they use both simultaneously — singing two different notes at once in harmony. Researchers have recorded this in slow-motion audio.

The grape-jelly bird

If you put grape jelly in a backyard dish, the first birds to find it are usually orioles (spring) and catbirds (summer). Memphis yards run on grape jelly in May and June.

Fun facts

• They're mimics, but they mimic less often than Mockingbirds — mostly sing original material.
• Scientific name Dumetella means "small thicket" in Latin.
• They winter from the Gulf Coast to Central America.
• Oldest known wild Gray Catbird: 17+ years.
• Their rusty under-tail is unmistakable and often the only sure ID in thick brush.