The name “Catbird” is applied to either unrelated or distantly related songbird families that have in common a voice that resembles a cat’s meowing.
Description
The plumages of catbirds vary from grey, blue-grey, greyish-brown to nearly blackish, possibly with dark / black markings.
Diet / Feeding
Their diet depends on the species — with some species mostly eating insects (taken in flight) and some fruits. Other species mostly eat fruits and green food; while some take fruit, seeds, flowers, insects and even the eggs or chicks of other birds.
Breeding / Nesting
The nests are usually constructed out of twigs, grass, leaves, bark and roots; and lined with fine grass in bushes, vines and low trees often near creeks.
Australasian catbirds:
- White-eared Catbird, Ailuroedus buccoides
- Spotted Catbird, Ailuroedus melanotis
- Green Catbird, Ailuroedus crassirostris
- Tooth-billed Catbird, Scenopooetes dentirostris
American Catbirds
- Gray Catbird, Dumetella carolinensis
- Black Catbird, Melanoptila glabrirostris
African Catbirds
The Abyssinian Catbird (Parophasma galinieri)
