Getting to know Catbirds…

If you live anywhere in northeastern America and spend much time outdoors during the summer, you are probably already very familiar with the Gray Catbird, even if you have never actually seen one. Their distinct mewing cry, which sounds very much like a meowing cat, is a common part of the summertime soundscape, especially in yards, parks, and on the edge of woods and meadows. With their charismatic personalities and fearless ways, Catbirds can provide endless entertainment and even companionship if you are fortunate enough to have one allow you to be part of their world.  

Catbirds are migratory, journeying hundreds, even thousands of miles, back and forth from their winter homes along the U.S. Gulf Coast into Mexico to their summer breeding grounds across the eastern U.S. and into southern Canada. They arrive here in western Pennsylvania in late April to early May, roughly around the same time as other migratory birds such as Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, and numerous species of warblers, vireos, and thrushes.

Upon their arrival in the spring, Catbirds are very hungry! They’ve just expended enormous amounts of their energy stores on their long journey and seem to be most hungry for protein-based foods such as insects, which are somewhat scarce in early spring. Therefore, it’s very common to see Catbirds begin to descend upon your suet feeders during this particularly hungry period. By June, when Catbirds have pair-bonded with a seasonal mate, built their nest, and are rearing their young, Catbirds typically switch out their food preference to fruits (raisins are a particular favorite), while expending a lot of energy hunting insects, which are the exclusive food of their nestlings. Unlike many backyard birds, such as Cardinals, Chickadees, Bluejays, and Woodpeckers, Catbirds rarely show much interest in eating seeds.

To attract Catbirds to your yard, it is essential that you provide plenty of cover. Catbirds may be bold, but they nonetheless only feel secure if they have numerous places to very quickly duck and cover. They especially love shrubbery and dense thickets of thorny, brambly bushes, so if your property includes these features, it’s very likely that you already have a Catbird pair nearby. Additionally, Catbirds absolutely adore water! They are unusually fastidious birds, and they typically take several baths a day, especially in the late afternoon and into the evening. Therefore, having a birdbath, especially one that is not overly deep, will also be highly attractive, so adding small rocks or pebbles to a birdbath (most birdbaths tend to be overly deep) helps to make a birdbath much more attractive to all birds, not just Catbirds.

Our catbird story…

Although I’ve always appreciated Catbirds and love their mewing call, as well as the male Catbird’s melodious, albeit somewhat convoluted song, I never paid them much mind. It wasn’t until the spring of 2020, during the stay-at-home isolation of Covid, that I began to give them much more thought. That spring, looking out the kitchen window and seeing the newly arrived Catbird migrants ravenously pecking away at our suet cake, reminded me of a cherished childhood experience. Growing up in the 1970s, I spent many childhood family vacations on Cape Cod. One year, my parents rented a beach cottage perched right on the cliff of Nauset Heights. By the kitchen window was a hand-printed sign directing the summer tenants to please feed the Catbirds raisins. Next to the sign was a box of raisins. Sure enough, as soon as we opened the window, with raisins in hand, a Catbird came right up to kitchen window ledge and ate the raisins right out of our hands! It was nothing less then magical and I never forgot it.

So, during that Covid spring of 2020, I was inspired to see if I could “train” our new Catbird arrivals to come to the window and eat out of our hand, too. I started by placing raisins on the outer windowsill, near the suet feeder, hoping the Catbirds (who tended to skulk about in the nearby privet hedge) might see them. Within a few minutes they did! And were soon flying up to the window to take raisins. The next step involved me putting raisins first on a saucer, and then in my hand out the mostly closed window. It took about an hour or so, but after a few aborted attempts, the Catbirds eventually started landing on my fingertips or on the window ledge to eat raisins out of my hand! Within a day, the Catbirds were not only coming to our window for raisins, but they were coming to us wherever we happened to be sitting outside–on our back patio or front porch. It all took off from there and we spend a joyful summer of 2020 with our Catbird friends.

Of course, after their departure in September 2020, I began counting down they days until springtime, hoping there was some slight chance that our Catbirds might return to us again. From everything I had read, Catbirds, along with many migratory birds, often return to the same summertime place. Additionally, discounting any tragic accident or predator, Catbirds can live a surprisingly long life span. The oldest documented Catbird was one estimated to be almost 18 years old. It was captured in New Jersey at 17 years, 11 months of age, then re-captured in Maryland before being released.¹ All of this gave me great hope that we would see our feathered friend again in May 2021. So I waited. And waited.

Finally, spring arrived! The end of April and first week of May 2021 brought cloudy, cold, rainy weather, making it difficult to spend much time outdoors. One rainy morning, I looked out the window and saw a Catbird in the birth bath! Could it possibly be our Catbird?! I rushed outside to place a saucer of raisins on table under the cover of our front porch. And soon enough, saw from my inside seat, a Catbird, deep inside our front porch, taking raisins from our plate. That’s when I knew it was our Catbird, as it is extremely unlikely that any strange Catbird would have so quickly found the dish of raisins, so far deep into the space of our front porch—a place most Catbirds would find too confining and somewhat threatening. And within a matter of days, once the weather cleared and allowed for long periods of time spent outside on the back patio or front porch, our Catbird friend began paying us visits, just like last year. Her mate, however, was much less friendly compared to last year. Determining a Catbird’s sex by physical appearance is virtually impossible, but we figured out that the less friendly one was the male because we would hear and see the less friendly Catbird loudly singing during the other, friendly Catbird’s visits (only male Catbirds sing—females mew-call but rarely ever sing). Perhaps it is a new male this year, not last year’s male, we do not know for sure. But for now at least, we have so thoroughly enjoyed resuming or visits with our dear Catbird girl. It truly seems miraculous that she returned!

Every May she returns to our western Pennsylvania yard, with her saucy dance and her mewing cry. She is always happy to grab some raisins from our hand or cool off with a splash in the birdbath. We watch with endless fascination as she dashes off from from the brambles, busily building her nest, or hunting insects for her babies.

Our hearts are a little less light when she leaves us every September to return to her sunny winter home somewhere on the Gulf of Mexico. The annual cycle of joy upon her arrival each spring and sorrow upon her departure each fall, is ultimately bittersweet, but always inspiring. That’s the spirit of Catbird Life…to embrace and live every moment of joy, as well as those moments of sorrow, especially now that we’ve lived out well over half of our life. At least for now, there is always more to experience!

For an update on our beloved Catbird friends, please be sure to read this post from August 2022:

Catbird Life Lessons: A Lesson In Truth, Beauty, and Eternal Connection

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Thank you for visiting with us.

Stacey and Kevin

All text & photos by Stacey.

¹ The Cornell Ornithology Lab, All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/overview