Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Spring 50: Catbird

Monday, May 9, 2011
5:40am-6:10am, Bussey Brook Meadows, Jamaica Plain, MA
cool, misty cloud on horizon


I'm still trying to take in this unfamiliar territory. So lush and filled in - the birds are hard to spot through all this new foliage! The marsh no longer appears to be much of a marsh - tall grasses have filled it in almost completely.

I hung out with a nice robin, but he got usurped by a new species - grey bird with dark grey cap, making funny mimic-y and also squeaky sounds from the top of a tall tall tree. My first catbird!

He had competition from a nearby song sparrow in this recording, so here is the song sparrow first:

Now, filter out that song sparrow while you listen for the catbird:

I think this may be the same individual bird that I got yesterday from my balcony - he's on the same tree!

At home I remembered that one of the distinctions between the Catbird and Mockingbird is that the Catbird, in addition to mewing, only sings each mimic one time, while the Mockingbird usually repeats each phrase 3 or more times each. I am kind of trying to become a mockingbird of the violin, I realize, and so I sketch a piece where I repeat each mimic 3-4 times.

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