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Green-backed Gerygone (Gerygone chloronota) Alternate name(s): "Green-backed Warbler", "Green-backed Fly-eater" Size: 9-10 cm Body mass: 5-8 g

Australia: Family Group 17 Family Group 17 Table Spotted Pardalote Forty-spotted Pardalote Red-browed Pardalote Striated Pardalote Large-billed Scrubwren Atherton Scrubwren White-browed Scrubwren Spotted Scrubwren Tasmanian Scrubwren Yellow-throated Scrubwren Pilotbird Rock Warbler Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Shy Heathwren Striated Fieldwren Rufous Fieldwren Fernwren Scrubtit Speckled Warbler Redthroat Western Gerygone Brown Gerygone Mangrove Gerygone Dusky Gerygone Large-billed Gerygone Green-backed Gerygone Fairy Gerygone White-throated Gerygone Weebill Yellow Thornbill Striated Thornbill Buff-rumped Thornbill Yellow-rumped Thornbill Western Thornbill Slender-billed Thornbill Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Brown Thornbill Inland Thornbill Slaty-backed Thornbill Tasmanian Thornbill Mountain Thornbill Southern Whiteface Chestnut-breasted Whiteface Banded Whiteface Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Green-backed Gerygones are very small birds found in or near intertidal wetlands. Their front (throat, chest and belly) is light-grey, the flanks and vent are light-yellow. The head, apart from the throat, is all slate-grey, while the back, from the nape of the neck to the tail, and the wings are all greyish olive-green. They have neither eye-rings or eyebrow. The eyes have red irises. The bill and lores are dark-grey, while the legs and feet are grey. Juvenile Green-backed Gerygones have a paler bill than adults, in particular the gape, and brown irises. Twitcher's tip Compared to other, similar greyish gerygones, Green-backed Gerygones have the biggest contrast between light-coloured front and darker back, including the slate-grey head.

Taxonomy, classification See Green-backed Gerygone at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Green-backed Gerygone is available HERE . Green-backed Gerygones are found only in northern Australia, West Papua (Indonesia) and New Guinea. There are two races of Green-backed Gerygone in Australia. Nominate race "chloronota" resides in the Top End of the NT, plus some offshore islands to the North and towards Indonesia and PNG. The western limit of their range is the NT/WA border, to the West of which, in a broad (near-)coastal strip, endemic race "darwini" is found, up to about Derby, WA. The range of both races extends farther inland along the major rivers. Green-backed Gerygones have a preference for the dense fringes of paperbark swamps, mangrove and adjacent open forest.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "chloronota" B. Hensen reports spotting Green-backed Gerygones, race "chloronota", at Lee Point, Darwin, NT, in August 2012, and again in June/July 2014. H. Mouritsen spotted Green-backed Gerygones, race "chloronota", in various locations in and around Darwin, NT, in October 2015. P. Brown reports finding Green-backed Gerygones, race "chloronota", in and around Darwin, NT, (including e.g. Mandorah, NT) semi-regularly. M. Eaton found Green-backed Gerygones, race "chloronota", at Lee Point, Darwin, NT, in July 2020.

Photos

Race "chloronota"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of an adult Green-backed Gerygone; note the near-black bill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Lee Point, Darwin, NT, June 2014]

Frontal view of a Green-backed Gerygone (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Near Dripstone Cliffs, Darwin, NT, August 2019]

Near-frontal view of am adult Green-backed Gerygone; note the red iris (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Lee Point, Darwin, NT, July 2014]

Near-lateral view of a Green-backed Gerygone (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Near Dripstone Cliffs, Darwin, NT, August 2019]

Lateral view of a Green-backed Gerygone (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Near Dripstone Cliffs, Darwin, NT, August 2019]

Lateral view of a Green-backed Gerygone looking for prey (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Fannie Bay, Darwin, NT, July 2019]

Lateral view of a Green-backed Gerygone looking for prey (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Dorsal view of a Green-backed Gerygone (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Near Dripstone Cliffs, Darwin, NT, August 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile Green-backed Gerygone; note the brown irises (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Frontal view of a juvenile Green-backed Gerygone begging for food; this is one of the birds whose calls were recorded on 3 June 2018 (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Green-backed Gerygone; note the pale bill (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Two juvenile Green-backed Gerygone waiting to be fed; these are two of the birds whose calls were recorded on 3 June 2018
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Green-backed Gerygone; note the pale base of the bill and the brown iris
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Green-backed Gerygones are being used as hosts by Little Bronze-Cuckoos.

Lateral/ventral view of a dependent juvenile Little Bronze-Cuckoo with one of its hosts/"parents", a Green-backed Gerygone (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[East Point Reserve, Darwin, NT, June 2021]

Food, Diet

Green-backed Gerygones have been found by us to have a particular liking for spiders and/or their eggs.

Adult Green-backed Gerygone taking a spider and/or eggs to feed its dependent young (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Mandorah, NT, June 2018]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

grbgery_pb_20180120.m4a	chloronotus (Top End, NT)	Contact calls	© PB
grbgery_pb_20180213_1.m4a	chloronotus (Top End, NT)	Contact calls	© PB
grbgery_pb_20180603_1.m4a	chloronotus (Top End, NT)	Contact calls	© PB
grbgery_pb_20180603_4.m4a	chloronotus (Top End, NT)	Contact calls + begging calls (family)	© PB
grbgery_pb_20180603_3.m4a	chloronotus (Top End, NT)	Begging calls (juveniles)	© PB
grbgery_pb_20180603_2.m4a	chloronotus (Top End, NT)	Various (+ Striated Pardalote)	© PB

More Green-backed Gerygone sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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