Gray catbirds are fairly common summer visitors to the Leavenworth area but they are not easily seen. You can look for a slim, slaty-gray, medium sized songbird with a small black cap, a blackish tail and a rufous patch under the base of the tail, but they are most easily identified by listening for their distinctive alarm call - a catlike mewing.

As a member of the Family Mimidae, gray catbirds, along with other thrashers and mockingbirds, are often called "mimic thrushes." They are excellent songsters and may mimic other birds.

Take a walk along the interpretive trail at the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery, along Peshastin Creek, or through Leavenworth's Waterfront Park while listening for the neighborhood "cat." If you are lucky you may see the jaunty flip of his long tail as he uses his long sturdy bill to forage on the ground in thick underbrush looking for insects, spiders or berries in the foliage.