Their plumage is not spectacular, like the male Baltimore orioles, scarlet tanagers, or indigo buntings. Instead, catbirds wear rather unremarkable slate gray and black-colored feathers.

But, oh, can they sing! For 10 minutes at a time, non-stop.

In fact, the only other birds that I know of in North America that sing (or mimic) other birds better than the catbird are two of its cousins: the Northern mockingbird, and, to a lesser extent, the brown thrasher.

Indeed, put the catbird and Northern mockingbird together, and you would have a symphony of musical notes that even Mozart and Beethoven would have trouble duplicating.

Other favorite bird crooners of mine are the Carolina wren, a diminutive bird that can belt out an outrageously loud song for its size; rose-breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles, who can chatter, chortle, and chirp high in the trees; the wood thrush, who in the gloom of the forest sings a beautiful, lilting melody; and the American robin, who at dusk, in the summer, can serenade us with a lovely lullaby.

The gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), as it’s formally called, gets its name from one of its many songs, a catlike mewing.

According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website, allaboutbirds.org, “The male

gray catbird uses his loud song to proclaim his territory. He uses a softer version of the song when near the nest or when a bird intrudes on his territory. Meanwhile, the female may sing a quiet song back to the male.”

Fortunately, these slim, nine-inch-long birds, who live - and nest - in dense thickets, are abundantly common. Catbirds breed from southern Canada south to Georgia and as far west as the Plains states, and winter as far south as Panama and the West Indies.

Catbirds, like many other birds, are important because they eat a lot of insects. Some of their favorites are ants, beetles, grasshoppers, midges, caterpillars, and moths.

In all my years of birding I have never found an active catbird nest. They usually build their nests on horizontal branches, hidden at the center of dense shrubs, small trees, or in vines, including dogwood, hawthorn, cherry, rose, elderberry and grape, according to allaboutbirds.org.

The females build the nests in five to six days, using twigs, straw, mud, and sometimes pieces of trash. And the males sometimes supply the materials, the website said.

Here are some other interesting catbird facts:

A nesting pair of catbirds will typically lay 1-6 turquoise green - colored eggs; incubation lasts 12-15 days; and the chicks usually stay in the nest 10-11 days, before fledging.

The oldest known gray catbird was at least 17 years, 11 months old when it was recaptured and released during banding operations in New Jersey in 2001, according to allaboutbirds.org. That’s a ripe old age for a songbird! Most live 2-5 years.

Finally, I encourage you to listen to the birds when you go for walks in the neighborhood, or in the parks. Many have happy, expressive voices. Enjoy.

Bill Hobbs welcomes your comments. He is a contributing writer for The Times and Estuary magazine. He lives in Stonington and can be reached at whobbs246@gmail.com.