Dumetella carolinensis

Perhaps you didn't know that gray catbirds kick ass. Well, they do. First of all, if you're lucky enough to have one in your yard, you will hear it calling "MYAA!" quite frequently. It rocks. Now, reputable bird guides claim the catbird says "Mew". Well, in my experience "MYAA!" is closer to the mark. They may be gray, but they have a bright red butt. In the bird world this is carefully referred to as the "vent". Ahem. They are close cousins to mockingbirds. While a singing mockingbird will mimic a sound one or more times, a catbird will only mimic a sound once, and then it moves to another. Lovely.

My adventures today included a visit to the chiropractor, a visit to see KM, and a trip to pottery class. Pottery is fun. You get to spend a lot of time beating clay. While I enjoy it immensely I have had a crick in my neck (similar to a piece of re-bar running into my shoulder) that even my chiropractor can't budge since beginning pottery. Thus I've had a headache for two weeks. This can only be described as super lame. Gotta work on that tension thing. I'll have to develop my own style of yoga pottery.

I'm off to wash the clay off, and prep for a pre-sunrise trip to my favorite banding station. Fun fun.