Expert: Julia Booth - 8/19/2008

Question
QUESTION: The last few days we have been hearing what we thought were kittens "mewing" (like kittens do) behind our house.  And they move....we have a large yard with the woods running horizontal to the back, probably three hundred yards long, and from morning til evening this noise moves from one end to the other.  well, this morning I was outside listening and these birds were flying from tree to tree, making the noise I heard.....which does not sound like a bird at all but was clearly coming from these birds.  I didn't get a great look at them but I do know they were a dark gray/brown and had a very wide squared off tail with light horizontal stripes on it.  This has had my husband and I puzzled for days now, I'd appreciate any help you can give me.  Oh, I live in Central Pa  Thanks

ANSWER: My first thought is the Gray Catbird, which makes such sounds and does have a large, squared off tail. It doesn't have stripes on it, however. The time of day suggests Mockingbird or Thrasher.

So, a few more questions.

How big was the bird you saw? Sparrow sized? Crow sized? Somewhere in between?

How many of them were there?

When they perched, did they sit on a branch or cling horizontally to the side of the tree?

Let me know and we'll go from there.

Julia



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The birds were big, like crows, and there were 3 maybe 4 of them.  We were just listening to them again, it's now 7 p.m. and they're still out there making noise, it goes on from sun up til sundown, although I've not been out when it was dark to know if it's still calling then.

Answer
I'm going to have to stick with Gray Catbird. They tend to sing in groups at dusk, mewing like a cat. It's the only one that's remotely close to what you described.

You can go to Enature.com and enter your zipcode. It will give you a list of birds that live in that zipcode and then you can listen to samples of their songs.

Julia