Green catbird

Species of bird

The green catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris) is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which sounds like a cat meowing, although it has also been mistaken for a crying child. The green catbird resembles the spotted catbird, which is found in wet tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland.

Green catbirds are a medium sized stocky bird with long, powerful legs and a long, stout bill. The back, wings and rump are brilliant emerald green, with very conspicuous pure white spots at the tips of the tertiaries and secondaries, which, on the tips of coverts, form two white wing bars. The tail is brownish emerald with white tips. The head is greenish brown mottled black and finely flecked pale buff. The chest is greenish buff to dull emerald with distinctive short white streaks. The bill is horn coloured and the legs are greyish brown. The nest is placed in the dense crown of a low understorey tree where there are many twigs and stems to support its bulk, or in thorny or stinging trees, the crown of a tree fern, or in the upwardly cupped fronds of a bird's nest fern. Green catbirds will constantly spend their time seeking out food sources both inside and outside their territories and fiercely defend food sources within their territory from other males and females. Patrolling their territory also makes up a large portion of their daily activity. They will be heard regularly calling but this is most common during breeding season, when predators are in the vicinity of nests and when engaging other birds in territorial battles.

Green catbirds are classified as omnivorous but are mainly frugivorous (native, introduced or cultivated), feeding on figs and a variety of vegetable matter such as buds, shoots, flowers and seeds. Catbirds will also be seen in cultivated fruit orchards when their naturally occurring food sources become scarce. Their diet is also supplemented with insects such as grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles, millipedes and mites and small vertebrates such as tree frogs and hatchlings of smaller birds that inhabit their area. Green catbirds forage in trees, active and wary, moving from limb to limb in the mid to upper strata as they forage.

Although the green catbird is listed as Least Concern on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is listed as Vulnerable in NSW, which is the majority of its range. Although it is widespread and common in its favoured habitat, ongoing clearing of rainforest and paperbark swamps for development is likely to continue to threaten the green catbird in the future.