Gray Catbird

Even the plainest of birds is remarkable. This nondescript dull gray bird belongs to the family Mimidae, the mimics, along with mockingbirds and thrashers. Among songbirds, Mimidae are the virtuosos. Unlike humans, who have a larynx and vocal cords, birds have a syrinx instead. In birds, the syrinx is located at the spot where our trachea forks into two bronchial tubes. Sound is produced by vibration of the tubes themselves. In songbirds this ability is especially well-developed, to the extent that some, including this gray catbird, can control each side of the syrinx independently. They can produce two different sounds at once, like two hands playing different parts on a piano. Catbirds are named for their mewing, cat-like calls, but they have a broad repertoire, imitating all the other local birds, tree frogs, and even mechanical sounds. Their songs are jumbled and seemingly improvised, lasting up to ten minutes and using as many as 170 syllables. Do we owe music to the birdsong heard by our ancient ancestors? No one knows for sure, but it is certainly possible that it is actually us who are the mimics.