Gray Catbird face-off / Ingham Co.

[Dmcwhir513@aol.com]

I was working with a novice bird group at Fenner last night and managed to 
see something new for me - a full scale territorial dispute between two pairs of 
catbirds.

We were hanging out by the feeders at the main building, enjoying two Wild 
Turkeys foraging under the feeders while they were dive bombed sporadically by a 
feeding male Redwing.  A Gray Catbird started to rev up a bit and we listened 
to him and I was remarking how the area adjacent to us looked like prime 
catbird habitat.

Not long after, he really got to going and I noticed overlapping songs.  
Checked, and there were 4 catbirds in the big apple tree by the feeders.  Checked 
again, and two of the birds were facing each other across a gap of about two 
meters.  They were calling more loudly and their body feathers were puffed out 
(no noticeable crest) and their wings were out and dropped slightly.  It 
looked like they were doing a bit of "bill up" and standing erect on "tiptoe" as 
well.  I wondered if the undertail patch was fluffed out, but couldn't see it.

I assume they were the males.  The calling escalated into some high-pitched 
whines interspersed in the regular song, a sound I have never associated with 
this species before.  One of the people thought the whines sounded dog-like.  
The females hung back and chimed in now and then with a muted "chup" note.  
After a minute or two, one couple retreated to the maple tree east of the 
building and the other pair followed after and the ruckus continued for another few 
minutes.

There was no physical contact seen.

What fun!  Always something new out there.  Take care   - Doug
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