Gray Catbird
Dumetella carolinensis
The Gray Catbird is the only U.S. bird that is a plain dark gray with rusty undertail coverts. It also has a distinctive black cap on its head. These characteristics are clear in the left photograph, where the bird is about to snack on a fly it just caught in the RamsHorn-Livingston Audubon Sanctuary in Catskill, NY (taken July 31, 2019). It generally prefers dense thickets, but will forage on the ground as well as within the thickets. The right photograph shows a playful side of the bird, taken in Charlottesville, VA on August 3, 2011. It can be found year-round in many of the states bordering the east coast, and in the summer throughout much of the U.S. (but only rarely in the west coast states). (Click on images to see enlarged versions.)