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23

Spotted Catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis) Alternate name(s): "Black-eared Catbird" Aboriginal name(s): Race "maculosus": "jiguya" [ngadjon] Size: 26-30 cm Weight: 140-200 g

Australia: Family Group 23 Family Group 23 Table Paradise Riflebird Victoria's Riflebird Magnificent Riflebird Trumpet Manucode Australian Raven Forest Raven Little Raven Little Crow Torresian Crow White-winged Chough Apostlebird Green Catbird Spotted Catbird Golden Bowerbird Regent Bowerbird Satin Bowerbird Tooth-billed Bowerbird Spotted Bowerbird Western Bowerbird Fawn-breasted Bowerbird Great Bowerbird 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 Spotted Catbirds are medium-sized bowerbirds. Their head is greyish-brown, with dark-grey lores, ear coverts and thin stripes behind the eyes. The rest of the sides of the head are lighter greyish-brown. The front, from the chest to the undertail coverts, is grey-green mixed with brown, with heavy whitish-grey streaking. The nape of the neck is dark greyish-brown 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 Green Catbirds, they have more less conspicuous facial markings and are more heavily streaked on the front.

Taxonomy, classification See Spotted 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 Spotted Catbird is available HERE . In Australia there are two races of Spotted Catbirds, both of which are endemic. Nominate race "melanotis" is found on the south-eastern part of Cape York peninsula, in the area of Tully Gorge NP and Girringun NP. Race "maculosus" populates a strip along the East coast of QLD about 200 km either way from Cairns, QLD. Spotted Catbirds have a preference for temperate and highland rainforest.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "maculosus" B. Hensen reports spotting a Spotted Catbird, race "maculosus", at Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, in July 2013, and again in November 2018. M. Eaton also found a Spotted Catbird, race "maculosus", at Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, in November 2018. Another was found at Paluma Rainforest, near Townsville, QLD, in September 2020.

Photos

Race "maculosus"

ADULT

FEMALE

Lateral/ventral view of a Spotted Catbird; since Spotted Catbirds do not build bowers, the stick the bird is carrying is most likely nest material - and since only females build nests, this bird is thereby likely a female (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, November 2018]

Sex unknown

Lateral view of an adult Spotted Catbird (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Near-dorsal view of a Spotted Catbird, showing more clearly the dark spot behind the bird's eye (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Ventral view of a Spotted Catbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, November 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary/roaming

Elementary unit: Solitary

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

Male birds are sedentary, females are roaming.

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).

spotcat_me_20200927.m4a	maculosus (Near Townsville, QLD)	Contact call	© ME
spotcat_me_20200927_2.m4a	maculosus (Near Townsville, QLD)	Contact calls (+ Rufous Whistler)	© ME

More Spotted 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: Wed, 30 March 2022, 5:18 +00:00