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Muscicapa carolinensisLinnaeus, 1766. Turdus felivoxVieillot, 1807. A Gray catbird stands in the grass. The gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), also spelled grey catbird, is a medium-sized North American and Central American perching bird of the mimid family. It is the only member of the " catbird " genus Dumetella.
Catbird. White-eared catbird. Gray catbird. A gray catbird voicing cat-like sounds at Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Ohio, US. Several unrelated groups of songbirds are called catbirds because of their wailing calls, which resemble a cat 's meowing. The genus name Ailuroedus likewise is from the Greek for 'cat-singer' or 'cat-voiced'.
According to Douglas Harper's Online Etymological Dictionary, the phrase refers to the gray catbird and was used in the 19th century in the American South. [1]According to the Oxford English Dictionary, [2] the first documented use occurred in a 1942 humorous short story by James Thurber titled "The Catbird Seat", [3] which features a character, Mrs. Barrows, who likes to use the phrase.
The brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), sometimes erroneously called the brown thrush or fox-coloured thrush, is a bird in the family Mimidae, which also includes the New World catbirds and mockingbirds. The brown thrasher is abundant throughout the eastern and central United States and southern and central Canada, and it is the only thrasher to ...
The black catbird ( Melanoptila glabrirostris) is a songbird species in the monotypic genus Melanoptila, part of the family Mimidae. At 19–20.5 cm (7.5–8.1 in) in length and 31.6–42 g (1.11–1.48 oz) in mass, it is the smallest of the mimids. Sexes appear similar, with glossy black plumage, black legs and bill, and dark brownish eyes.
The two most studied species, the green catbird and satin bowerbird, have life expectancies of around eight to ten years [10] and one satin bowerbird has been known to live for twenty-six years. [11] For comparison, the common raven , the heaviest passerine species with significant banding records, has not been known to live longer than 21 years.
Brown-headed cowbird call. The brown-headed cowbird is typical for an icterid in general shape, but is distinguished by its finch -like head and beak and smaller size. The adult male is iridescent black in color with a brown head. The adult female is slightly smaller and is dull grey with a pale throat and very fine streaking on the underparts.
The green catbird ( Ailuroedus crassirostris) is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which sounds like a cat meowing, although it has also been mistaken for a crying child.