Alternative name: Large-billed Catbird
- Ailuroedus crassirostris
Identification
31cm.
- Mostly green plumage
- Conspicious white patch on lower neck
- Blackish feather tips give a smudged finely spotted appearance to head
- Tail, greater coverts and secondaries finely tipped white
- Paler, more yellowish-green breast with broad whitish spots
- Pearly whitish bill
- Deep blood-red eye
Sexes similar, females slightly smaller.
Similar species
Spotted Catbird has dark head markings and a paler bill.
Distribution
Queensland to New South Wales in Australia.
Fairly common where extensive habitat remains.
Taxonomy
Three subspecies:[1]
- A. c. joanae in east Cape York Peninsula and north Queensland, Australia
- A. c. maculosus in the wet tropics of north Queensland, Australia
- A. c. crassirostris from eastern Australia (Dawes Range, Queensland to Jervis Bay, New South Wales)
Sometimes considered conspecific with Spotted Catbird, but new studies support the split.
Habitat
Subtropical forest, also eucalypt forest, gardens and orchards. Often near watercourses, especially when breeding. Occurs from sea-level up to 1000m.
Behaviour
Feeds mostly on fruits. Takes also flowers, leaves, succulent stems, arthropods and sometimes tree-frogs or nestling birds.
Known to cache fruits for later. Forages singly, in pairs, small groups or mixed-species flocks with other bowerbirds.
Breeding season from September to March, peak in October to December. A monogamous species. The nest is a large, open cup made of sticks and twigs. It's placed 2 - 18m above the ground in a tree fork or in vine tangles or epiphytic ferns. Lays 1 - 3 eggs.
A resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
- Simpson, K and N Day. 1998. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-4877-5
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Green Catbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 23 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Green_Catbird
