AVIAN KERFUFFLE

I was working in the yard when I heard what sounded like a crying cat nearby. Only one call. Then, a bit further away, a crow replied with a double caw-caw. Overhead, a jay let loose with a long shout. At first I thought the cat cry was some odd vocalization from crow or jay but then I realized that it was a catbird, I've seen a male around the feeder the past couple of days. The calling began again and in the same sequence: catbird, crow, jay and repeated three times. Suddenly, with the final jay call, it stopped. No final words, thrown over the shoulder, just silence. I reckoned that they had in unison flew off. 

 

"What was this about?" I thought. Probably nest related but the odd thing was that this involved three individuals not, as one would expect, one or a pair from a species squaring off against another species that was threatening the eggs. Over supper, C and I tossed around ideas: the romantic: a neighbor coming to the defense of a Mom against a bad actor in the 'hood or the Mom nightmare: Mom against two bad actors.

 

Consultation with Wiki may shed some light on the event. Catbirds have a peculiar nesting strategy and to our human sensibilities, a bit rude and uncaring. Catbirds don't make nests instead they lay eggs in existing nests, abandoning their young to the foster family. Naturally, they lose a good percentage of young but they make up for it by producing upwards of three dozen eggs per summer. 

 

Was Mama catbird caught in the act of dropping eggs in someone's nest? Were crow and jay acting as neighborhood watch and hollering to let the folks know that there was a catbird in their midst? You know what happens when they're in the 'hood. It was a mysterious and curious thing to earwitness.