Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)


Group	Mimic Thrushes
Code	ABPBK01010
Order	Passeriformes
Family	Mimidae
Author	(Linnaeus, 1766)
Rank	G5 (definitions)
Occurrence	SM (definitions)
Scale	C (definitions)

County List:


Western UP	all
Eastern UP	all
Northern LP	all
Southern LP	all

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

1st alternative:
      (Any Upland Deciduous (Regen))
      or (Any Upland Mixed (Regen))
      or (Any Lowland Deciduous (Regen))
   containing:
      Mast
   adjacent to:
      (Edge or Riparian)

2nd alternative:
      Upland Brush
      or Lowland Brush
   containing:
      Mast

view decision rule term definitions

Habitat List:

Habitats	Regen	Sap	Pole	Sm Saw	Lg Saw	Uneven
Aspen	YES	no	no	no	no	-
Paper Birch	YES	no	no	no	no	-
Oak	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Assorted Hardwoods	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Northern Hardwoods	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Spruce/Fir	no	no	no	no	no	no
Hemlock	no	no	no	no	no	no
Jack Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Red Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
White Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Conifer Plantations	no	no	no	no	no	-
Mixed Upland Hardwoods	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Northern Hardwoods	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Upland Conifer	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Pine	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Swamp Hardwoods	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Balsam Poplar & Swamp Aspen & Swamp Birch	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Bottomland Hardwoods	YES	no	no	no	no	no
Tamarack	no	no	no	no	no	no
Northern White Cedar	no	no	no	no	no	no
Black Spruce	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Lowland Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Lowland Conifer	no	no	no	no	no	no
Non-Forested	Upland Brush, Lowland Brush
Special Features	Mast, Edges, Riparian

view size class definitions

Literature:

Eastman, J. 1991. Gray Catbird. Pages 360-361 In: R. Brewer, G. A. McPeek, and R. J. Adams, Jr. (eds.) The atlas of breeding birds of Michigan. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. 594 pp.

Habitat: Barrows noted the Gray Catbird's predilection for the vicinity of man, including orchards and berry crops in season. Breeding habitats include shrubby edges and thickets bordering forests, streams, fields, and suburban yards. Moderate foliage density seems to be a habitat requirement, but the catbird seldom resides in densely forested tracts in Michigan. Nickell noted gray dogwood, Tartarian honeysuckle, and hawthorn as the three most common plants utilized for nest sites. Atlas Habitat Survey data for the Lower Peninsula showed the highest preponderance of catbirds in the shrub wetland, consisting of alder and willow-dogwood thickets, with shrub upland and residential roadside areas also ranking high.

Typically a nest occupies the center of a dense vine tangle, thorn patch, or shrub thicket.

DeGraaf, R. M. and D. D. Rudis. 1986. New England wildlife: habitat, natural history, and distribution. GTR NE-108. Broomall, PA:USDA, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 491 pp.

Habitat: Breeding: Dense thickets of shrubs, briars, vines along woodland borders, lowland tangles near streams, ponds and swamps, shrubbery around buildings especially in hedgerows and gardens, forest clearings with brushy edges. Rare at high elevations. Wintering: Milder coastal regions where persistent fruits are available throughout the winter.

Special Habitat Requirements: Low, dense, woody vegetation for nesting, usually with an over-topping deciduous tree layer 10 to 30 feet above.

Kaufman, K. 1996. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 675 pp.

Habitat: Undergrowth, brush, thorn scrub, suburban gardens. At all seasons, favors dense low growth. Most common in leafy thickets along the edges of woods and streams, shrubby swamps, overgrown brushy fields, and hedges in gardens. Avoids unbroken forest and coniferous woods.

Diet: Mostly insects and berries. Especially in early summer, eats many beetles, ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, crickets, true bugs, and other insects as well as spiders and millipedes. Nestlings are fed almost entirely on insects. More than half the annual diet of adults may be vegetable matter, especially in fall and winter, when they eat many kinds of wild berries and some cultivated fruit. Rarely catches small fish. At feeders will eat a bizarre assortment of items including doughnuts, cheese, boiled potato, and corn flakes.

Nest: Placed in dense shrubs, thickets, brier tangles, or low trees, usually 3-10 feet above the ground. Nest is a large bulky cup of twigs, weeds, grass, leaves, and sometimes pieces of trash, lined with rootlets and other fine materials.