"Meow!"

   I was working at my desk when suddenly, on the birdbath just outside my window perched a handsome Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). This has happened once before, but it is such an uncommon event that I called for Berry to come to the window and see.

Gray Catbird

   The Catbird call sounds like a small kitten. What would be the evolutionary advantage for that? We did not have a camera, but this photo is a good representation of what we saw.

   Berry and I have seen the Gray Catbird several times in the wild. We were peeking through the underbrush on President's Island in Memphis and saw one. We were walking on a wooden boardwalk through a swamp in Florida and saw a flock of them. For birders Gray Catbirds are a delightful find.

Robert

photo courtesy of jsottolano

Birding Trip to Wapanocca

   We got up early. 5:30am is early. And drove to Arkansas, to the little national wildlife refuge called Wapanocca. It has canals, swamps, boggy areas, duck ponds, a small lake, all tucked inside a southern hardwood forest.

   We saw plenty of birds.

• Starling
  
• Killdeer
  
• Mourning Dove
  
• American Crow
  
• Indigo Bunting female
  
• Northern Cardinal
  
• Great Blue Heron
  
• Prothonatory Warbler
  

Prothonotary Warbler

• Eastern Wood-Pewee
  
• Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
  
• Carolina Wren
  
• Yellow-Breasted Chat
  

Yellow-Breasted Chat

• Snowy Egret
  
• Great Egret
  
• Peregrine Falcon
  
• Pied-Billed Grebe en famille
  
• Horned Grebe
  
• Red-Winged Blackbird
  
• Bank Swallow
  
• Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
  

   And here are some digital photos from the trip.

Pier at Lake Wapanocca

The Swampy Bog

Reed Beds

Giant Lily Pads

Careless Fishermen Hung Their Lures

Black-Eyed Susans along the Highway

   We had a great time on Labor Day. Very exciting to see all the birds. But we had gotten up very early, so when we got home we had a meal, and then, both fell straight asleep.

Robert

photos courtesy of lspitalnik, rhoward, and rfowler