Norm wrote:
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>Emily Wilberg asks about Gray Catbirds eating seed.  I often have catbirds foraging under and around my feeders, always, I assumed, looking for insects amidst the shells, etc.  However, since you posed your question to the experts, Emily, I decided to check with them.  
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>According to The Birder's Handbook, by Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, Gray Catbird diet "includes spiders, berries, occasionally more than 50% fruit.  Young fed almost 100% insects."
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>The Birder's Handbook is a wonderful reference because the authors don't hesitate to admit that there is a lot not yet known about birds (even many of the common ones)--they put ? marks where they have been unable to find the answers for specific items.  In the Gray Catbird  statement, they show no such hesitation with regard to their diet statement so I feel confident of my initial notion that the birds are foraging amongszt the litter for insects.

We have 2-3 catbirds hanging around our feeders at home, and they seem to concentrate on the suet cake.  That suet is quite popular these days- we've had robins, catbirds, mockingbirds, adult and fledgling starlings, downy woodpeckers, and a lone chickadee eating there within minutes of each other.  We have plenty of seed around, in the feeders and on the ground, but the birds seem to like the suet the most.

Monroe Harden
Havre de Grace, MD