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23

Green Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris) Aboriginal name(s): "jigay"/"jihgay"/"jigaybil" [bundjalung] Size: 24-33 cm Weight: 165-270 g

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Similar species

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Green Catbirds are medium-sized bowerbirds. Their head is greyish-brown, mottled with green. The front, from the chest to the undertail coverts, is grey-green mixed with brown, with whitish-grey streaking. The nape of the neck is green with light whitish-grey streaking. The rest of the back is bottle-green. The wings have white bars and white-tipped feathers; the tips of the primaries are dark-grey. The uppertail is green with white tips. The eyes have red-brown irises. The stout bill is greyish to horn-coloured; the legs and feet are grey. Juveniles have duller colours. Twitcher's tip Compared with Spotted Catbirds, they have less conspicuous facial markings and are less heavily streaked on the front.

Taxonomy, classification See Green Catbird at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information Spotted Catbirds have now been given species status and are no longer considered to be two races of the Green Catbird.

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 Catbird is available HERE . Since the separation from the Spotted Catbird, there is only one race of Green Catbirds left, "crassirostris",which is endemic to Australia. Green Catbirds are found on a narrow fringe along the East coast of Australia and parts of the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, from about Woollongong, NSW, in the South, to just South of the tropic of Capricorn in QLD. Green Catbirds can be found in highland and temperate rainforest, often high up in the canopy.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "crassirostris" Green Catbirds, race "crassirostris", were first spotted by us in Dorrigo NP, northern NSW, in 2005. They are heard and seen by us regularly in the same location since then. Green Catbirds, race "crassirostris", are reported to us regularly from various locations in south-eastern QLD and north-eastern NSW. Green Catbirds, race "crassirostris", were also found by us at Wingham Brush NR, Wingham, NSW, in September 2011. M. Windeyer reports spotting Green Catbirds, race "crassirostris", in Glenning Valley, NSW Central Coast, in October 2011.

Photos

Race "crassirostris"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of an adult Green Catbird (photo courtesy of M. Windeyer)
[Glenning Valley, NSW, October 2011]

Frontal view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cooroy, QLD, December 2017]

Near-frontal view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[Mt. Tamborine, QLD, August 2013]

Near-lateral view of a Green Catbird
[Dorrigo NP, NSW, July 2009]

Lateral view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cooroy, QLD, December 2017]

Lateral view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, April 2013]

Lateral view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of E. Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, June 2016]

Different lateral view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[Mt. Tamborine, QLD, August 2013]

Dorsal view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cooroy, QLD, December 2017]

Dorsal view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[Mt. Tamborine, QLD, August 2013]

Different dorsal view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[Mt. Tamborine, QLD, August 2013]

Ventral view of a Green Catbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, April 2013]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary/roaming

Elementary unit: Solitary

As opposed to other species of bowerbirds, male Green Catbirds do NOT build bowers (i.e. courting displays to attract females).

Male birds are sedentary, females are roaming.

Green Catbird basking in the sun (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, NSW, January 2017]

Food, Diet

Green Catbird with its bill stuffed with fruit (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cooroy, QLD, December 2017]

Green Catbird foraging on the ground (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, NSW, October 2016]

Green Catbird feeding on the core of an apple (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, NSW, October 2016]

Green Catbird taking fruit from a bird feeder; this is the bird whose calls were recorded on 6 October 2020
(photo courtesy of T. Froia Drummond)
[Pomona, Sunshine Coast, QLD, October 2020]

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.

Twitcher's tip

Apart from the characteristic cat-like call giving them their name, Green Catbirds also use a very high-pitched short chirping call unusual for a bird this tall (about the same size as a Satin Bowerbird).

grncatb_20170608.m4a	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Contact calls	© MD
grncatb_20140522.mp3	crassirostris (NE NSW)	Contact calls	© MD
grncatb_tfd_20201006.m4a	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Contact calls	© TFD
grncatb_art_20131125.m4a	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Territorial calls(?)	© ART
grncatb_tfd_20220831.mp3	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Territorial calls(?)	© TFD
grncatb_art_20131125_2.m4a	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Territorial calls(?)	© ART
grncatb_20160314_3.m4a	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Territorial call(?)	© MD
grncatb_20160314_2.m4a	crassirostris (SE QLD)	Territorial call(?) Q&A	© MD

More Green Catbird 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.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Thu, 1 September 2022, 0:59 +00:00