Gray Catbird

SCraig · Apr 28, 2013

Cloudy and gray and drizzling this morning, but better than the cloudburst we had yesterday, so I got out for a while. This guy landed in a tree near me and I thought it was a Mockingbird at first since it was pretty dark where he was sitting. When I got home I realized it wasn't and had to look it up. It appears to be a Gray Catbird, so that's another new species for me.

The yellow tint in the lower right corner of the first one is a very out-of-focus leaf. I moved to the left a bit to get it out of the way and that's when he jumped to another limb and got ready to launch. I got the second shot and a second later he was gone

TimothyJinx · Apr 28, 2013

Very nice. I don't think I've ever seen one of those before.

KrisztinaK · Apr 28, 2013

Oooh, that's a pretty little bird. I'm almost positive I've never seen one before either.

I like the first shot better, and the yellow blur doesn't bother me at all. I wonder if you can do some selective hue/sat adjustments to that area to minimize the yellow (only if it others you).

SCraig · Apr 28, 2013

Thanks Timothy and Krisztina. I had never seen one either but didn't realize it at the time. Looking at a map of their range I see that they are not here year-round. This area is in their normal summer breeding area, so this one is here very early. It doesn't show well in my photos but the bottom of the feathers under their tail are reddish-brown.

Krisztina I could probably subdue the yellow tint in the first shot but it really doesn't bother me that much either. I doubt that I'll go to the effort of trying to get rid of it, it's not that big a deal.

sm4him · Apr 28, 2013

Nice! I've not seen one of those either, but it does appear to be a Gray Catbird. Nice catch.
And another reminder to look twice at those birds we THINK are the same thing we've shot dozens of times.

On another note, I'm glad to hear that it was down to a drizzle there this morning; means maybe we'll see this stuff slacking off before too long.

SCraig · Apr 28, 2013

sm4him said:
Nice! I've not seen one of those either, but it does appear to be a Gray Catbird. Nice catch.
And another reminder to look twice at those birds we THINK are the same thing we've shot dozens of times.

Yeah, I learned long ago to worry about what they are when I get home. If a bird lands in a good place for a shot I'll take it and figure out what they are later. Several times I've thought I knew what one was until I got home and started looking closer.

On another note, I'm glad to hear that it was down to a drizzle there this morning; means maybe we'll see this stuff slacking off before too long.

Yeah, it was soaking wet here yesterday. Flash flood warnings and according to Weather Underground (or NWS or something) we broke a record set in 1912 with 3.3" of rain yesterday. It had mostly moved out by this morning with just a few drizzles hanging around, and then the sun came out a little while about mid-day.