Catbird is the name of several songbirds known for making calls that sound like a cat’s meow. The best-known species (kind) is the gray catbird. It is about 9 inches (23 centimeters) long and slate-gray in color. The top of its head is black, and it has a brick-red patch beneath the base of its long tail feathers. The gray catbird breeds in the eastern, central, and southern parts of the United States and in southern Canada. It is found as far west as central Washington, Utah, and Arizona. It winters along the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf States, West Indies, Mexico, and Central America.
The gray catbird hides its loosely made nest of twigs and rootlets in tangled thickets and thick brush. It lays three to five bluish-green eggs. It sometimes eats strawberries, raspberries, and cherries, but it also eats harmful insects.
Loading the player...Gray catbird
The black catbird has black feathers with some purple and blue-green. It lives in Central America. A group of songbirds that live in Australasia also are called catbirds.
