The Gray Catbird is a familiar member of the Mimidae (mimic) family, a group of birds that includes noted songsters such as Northern Mockingbird and Sage Thrasher. Like its relatives, the Gray Catbird mimics a variety of sounds, but this bird is best known for the cat-like mewing calls that give the species its common name.    

Gray Catbirds often sing from a high perch while displaying; this behavior gave rise to an idiom heard in the southern United States, "sitting in the catbird seat," which refers to someone in an advantageous position.

The catbird's genus name, Dumetella, means "small thicket," a nod to its preferred habitat of deep thickets and shrubs. 

Listen to the catbird's cat-like mewing call>>