other names

Spotted Catbird or Black-eared Catbird

Click here to see a Green Cabtirk chick

DESCRIPTION

Adults: 240-320mm in length. Plain olive green with spotted white on head and nape. Face mottled dusky , white and buff. White ring around red eye. Beak a boney-cream. Feet gray. Feathers on rest of body including wings and tail are emerald green. Flight feathers, wing coverts and tail feathers tipped with white.

Juveniles: As adult but with duller colours and blue-ish tinge. Adult plumage gained in second year.

Voice: A sharp tk when feeding. Harsh rasping in alarm. The terrotorial call is a drawn out yiiaaoowww, sounding like a cat cry or baby cry.

The Green Catbird can be found in tropical and sub-tropical rainforests in theee tracts on the East Coast of Australia -from Iron Range to McIlwraith Range in Cape York, Helenvale to Paluma Range in Queensland and from Dawes Range in Queensland to Narooma in New South Wales. Size and plumage may vary slightly between populations however habits and behaviour are the same. The Green Catbird was given its name from its wailing cat-like cry. It is a bowerbird but it does not build a bower for courtship. The Green Bowerbird is sendentary and generally solitariy however mating pairs are monogamous and hold permanent terriotories. Territories are marked by the loud cat-like wailing rasping by both sexes, calls are sparodic during the day and increase at dawn and dusk. Green Catbirds are mainly fruit eaters, choosing fruits such as figs from the canopy and the forest floor. Insects, larvae, leaves, flower heads, frogs and nestlings of other birds are also eaten. During the breeding season, September to January, males actively defend between 15 to 20 metres around the nest which is built in dense foliage of understory trees. The nest, which the female builds, is a large, deep cup about 120 to 150mm deep and 220 to 250mm across, made with leaves and twigs and bound with vine tendrils. One to three eggs can be laid which are incubated by the female for 23 to 24 days. Chicks are fed by both parents. Young fledge in about three weeks.