Whither the Catbird

I most enjoy the Gray Catbirds in midsummer. When they first arrive, in late April, they're rowdy and aggressive. But come July, the young have been fledged and the food supplies are abundant, and it seems that the Catbirds really calm down. To be sure, they have their ornery side. Whenever I make my rounds -- checking bird baths, dumping scraps into the compost bin, etc., I hear the Catbirds gently scold me and see them hop about brushy vegetation perhaps thinking they're hard to see. Their calls are now down to a mellower "meow" than the shriller variety I heard so much in May and June. I imagine now that the steamy rain forest is here, and the Catbirds are my monkeys. It makes for a marvelous sound. It is hot, and humid, and lushly green (if you ignore grass), and the insects buzz loudly, so the comparison feels right. It's too bad the Catbirds won't be here much longer.