Gray Catbird

Gray Catbird

Dumetella carolinensis

Maullador Gris

Photo: G. Beaton

An all-gray bird with a black cap and rufous under the base of the tail. Its call sounds like a cat mewing. Length: 23 cm.; weight: 38 g. Audio (M. Oberle). Breeds over much of the USA and southern Canada. Winters in the southeastern USA, Central America, Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Accidental on Puerto Rico in dry forest (e.g., 25 February 1985; Barrio Aguacate, Aguadilla, 26 Dec. 2000 and 15 October 2003; Ca±o Tiburones Nature Reserve, 14 December 2003 until 3 seen on 28 January 2004).

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; MIMIDAE

References

Arendt, W.J. 1992. Status of North American migrant landbirds in the Caribbean region: a summary. Pp. 143-171 in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds (J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston, eds.) Smithsonian Instit. Press, Washington, D.C.

Berger, J., P. B. Stacey, L. Bellis, and M. P. Johnson. 2001. A mammalian predator-prey imbalance: grizzly bear and wolf extinction affect avian Neotropical migrants. Ecological Applications 11(4):947-969.

Brewer, D. and B. K. Mackay. 2001. Wrens, dippers and thrashers. 2001. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Cimprich, D., and F. Moore. 1995. Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). No. 167 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, PA, and Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, D.C.

Heise, C. D. and F. R. Moore. 2003. Age-related differences in foraging efficiency, molt, and fat deposition of Gray Catbirds prior to autumn migration Condor 105(3):496-504.

Hunt, J. S., E. Bermingham and R. E. Ricklefs. 2001. Molecular systematics and biogeography of Antillean thrashers, tremblers, and mockingbirds (Aves: Mimidae). Auk 118(1):35-55.

Pérez-Rivera, R.A. and M. Soto Singala. 1991. Tercer registro de Dumetella carolinensis en Puerto Rico. El Pitirre 4(3):3.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Gray Catbird, Spanish text

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