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Quirky Words for Gray Birds
Who knew there were so many ways to call a bird gray?
© Greg Lavaty
Many birds have common names that refer to their dominant body color, like the Gray Catbird. Yet some species of gray birds received more colorful descriptors than others. Silvered, plumbeous, glaucous, and slate are just some of the bird world’s many shades of gray!
BirdNote®
Quirky Words for Gray Birds
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
Some bird names get right to the point, like the Gray Catbird.
[Gray Catbird call]
Found from Canada to Colombia, these songbirds make a call like a kitten’s meow and they are — you guessed it — gray. In fact, ornithologists have named many gray birds for their predominant hue. Yet some species received more colorful descriptors than others. Like the Slate-colored Grosbeak, a dark gray forest bird of Central and South America.
[Slate-colored Grosbeak]
Or the Silvered Antbird of the Amazon rainforest.
[Silvered Antbird]
The Plumbeous Vireo’s name derives from the Latin word plumbum, meaning lead. The species is found in the western regions of the U.S. and Mexico, and their cool gray complexion helps set them apart from other vireos.
[Plumbeous Vireo]
The Glaucous Gull and Glaucous Tanager are named for the subtle, light-blueish tint of their feathers. In fact, botanists use the same word to describe plants with a waxy coating, like the gray gleam on succulent leaves and fresh grapes.
[Glaucous Gull]
Who knew birds come in so many different shades of gray?
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Glaucous Gull ML179511 recorded by Gerrit Vyn. Gray Catbird ML163377 recorded by Matthew D. Medler. Plumbeous Vireo ML516696 recorded by Wil Hershberger. Silvered Antbird ML631195089.A3 recorded by Brian O'Shea. Slate-colored Grosbeak ML22067 recorded by Ted Parker.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote June 2025
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# names-10-2025-06-02 names-10
Ariana Remmel
Writer NarratorSights & Sounds
