Nelly W wrote:
songbird wrote:

the bird that consistently makes me laugh is the
catbird, it is a medium sized bird (about 7-9 inches
long), fairly plump, grays and blacks, but with a
bit of a black cap on top of the head. what is so
funny is the calls, it usually just rambles on and
on, but it repeats things twice, but it has a wide
variety of calls. you never quite know what is
going to come next. then the feature of the bird
and why it is called a cat bird is because it makes
a call that sounds like a cat meow.


It's funny how for so long I thought that the squirrels' "bark" (alarm
call) were coming from birds. (Same w/chipmunks come to I think of it)
We have lots of squirrels here and they often raise a stink; my son & I
mock & laugh at them. But then I realized here recently they really were
sounding more like birds, and sure enough it was a catbird, imitating a
squirrel "bark." Strangely, I haven't heard any of them "meow" in a very
long time. Guess there aren't many cats around to listen to? But there
are plenty of other birds they imitate. The males with the biggest
repertoires get the females, so for them it's the more the merrier.

they are still out there in the north hedge.
once in a while i see them poking around on the
ground in the gardens.


it has taken
up it's favorite spot at the top of the larger dead
tree where it can see all that is going on.

"Sittin' in the catbird seat," as I used to say when my little niece
used to ride on my dad's shoulders. Best place there was to be

ah, now that expression clicks with my
memory of someone else saying that too, quite
some time ago. good phrase.

today i've caught one glimpse of a bright red
bird that is not a cardinal, i'm hoping it's a
scarlett tanager, but until i get a better look
at it i can't give a positive id.


songbird