Birds are known for their vocalizations, and one of the most vociferous groups of birds that I am familiar with is the family Mimidae, or the mimic thrush family, which includes mockingbirds, thrashers and catbirds. Perhaps the most well-known (and vocal) member of this group is the Northern Mockingbird, but there are two other very abundant species that I have personally encountered.

Brown Thrasher

Despite being in the same family as the Northern Mockingbird, the brown thrasher is quite different, and not just in terms of its appearance (which is striking). Much like the mockingbird, its song is a series of phrases that it has learned to imitate by listening to other species' songs, but where mockingbirds typically repeat each phrase 2-6 times before moving on to the next one, the Brown Thrasher usually only repeats each phrase twice. If I had to pick one word to describe the songs of these two birds in this context, I would choose 'ordered'; a word that would be extremely unfitting when applied to this next species.

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird, while a close relative of thrashers and mockingbirds, sounds very different. The predictable repetition of the previous species is absent in catbirds, whose songs are relatively chaotic by comparison. They do still possess the defining characteristic of this family, though; incorporating mimicked sounds into their songs. The name 'catbird' comes from their call, which is described as "mewing", and is the diagnostic sound that I use to identify them.

The songs of these species (as well as every other North American bird) can be heard at www.allaboutbirds.org, a fantastic web resource run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.