catbird

Any of several passerine species (family Mimidae) named for their mewing calls, which they use in addition to song. The North American catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) is 9 in. (23 cm) long and gray with a black cap. It is found in gardens and thickets. The black catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris) is found in coastal Yucatán. Three species of the bowerbird family are also called catbirds; they are found in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands and do not build bowers but hold territories in the forest by loud singing.

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Birds

Catbirds proper in the bowerbird family (Ptilonorhynchidae):

Ailuroedus

White-eared Catbird (Ailuroedus buccoides)

Spotted Catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis)

Green Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris)

Tooth-billed Catbird (Scenopooetes dentirostris)

New World catbirds in the mockingbird family (Mimidae)

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

Black Catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris)

Abyssinian Catbird (Parophasma galinieri) in the Old World babbler family (Timaliidae)

Other uses

For the Lockeed Martin test aircraft, see Lockheed CATBird

For the Scaled Composites aircraft, see Scaled Composites Catbird

For the record company, see Catbird Records

For the idiom, see Catbird seat

For basketball teams with this name, see

*Louisville Catbirds

*La Crosse Catbirds

For a reference to a horse of that name, see Golden Slipper