Cat thrush
| Cat thrush | ||||||||||||
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Cat Thrush ( Dumetella carolinensis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Dumetella | ||||||||||||
| CT Wood , 1837 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Dumetella carolinensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The cat mockingbird ( Dumetella carolinensis ), traditionally cat thrush for short , sometimes also called cat bird, is a common North American songbird from the mocking thrush family (Mimidae). It is the only representative of the genus Dumetella . The IUCN classifies the species as currently (2018) not endangered ( least concern ).
features
The 21 to 24 cm long cat thrush has short rounded wings and a long rounded tail. The plumage is slate gray with a black cap and a black tail, which has chestnut brown areas underneath. The short beak is black, as are the eyes, legs and feet. The eastern populations are darker in color than the western ones. Both sexes look alike. The bird mimics the calls of other songbirds and also has a "meow" as a utterance.
Occurrence
In Canada, the cat thrush breeds in British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan, and Manitoba ; in the USA from Oregon to New Mexico and in the east to the coast. It winters in the southeastern United States, in Mexico along the east coast and on Caribbean islands. The bird lives in dense bushes, on the edges of forests, in clearings, on abandoned farmland and on rivers and avoids areas with too many conifers.
behavior
The cat thrush is diurnal, it lives hidden in the bushes. It usually flies close to the ground and only short distances from branch to branch, avoiding flights over open areas. The bird looks for food consisting of insects, seeds and berries on the ground.
Reproduction
The breeding season lasts from April to early August. During this period the monogamous bird usually breeds twice. The nest is built in the bushes or in the low thicket of twigs, sometimes with scraps of paper. The clutch usually consists of two to five light blue eggs. The female incubates these alone for around two weeks. Both parent birds hover the chicks and feed them small invertebrates . The young birds fledge at 10 to 11 days, independent after a further 12 days and sexually mature at one year.
The brown-headed cowbird often lays its eggs in addition, but the cat thrush usually recognizes its own eggs and removes the foreign ones. However, if the brown-headed cowbird quickly replaces the eggs that have been thrown out, the cat thrush is so confused that it regards the foreign eggs as its own and throws its own eggs out of the nest. However, this rarely happens.
literature
- Colin Harrison & Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersly Limited, London 1993, 2000, ISBN 3-8310-0785-3
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3
Web links
- Dumetella carolinensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 30 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Dumetella carolinensis in the Internet Bird Collection
- English website
- Feathers of the cat mockingbird