EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Jumpin' Spotted Catbird

"Spotted" Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris, race maculosus), Family Ptilonorhynchidae
Queensland, Australia

Explanation:  What a fun bird this was to watch from the porch of our forest cabin.  This is a Green Catbird, an unusual species of bowerbird found in eastern Australia.  

More specifically, this race of the Green Catbird is called the "Spotted" Catbird, because of the heavy white spots on the chest and belly.  Spotted Catbirds are found only in a narrow band along the coast of central Queensland, northeastern tropical Australia.  

What makes this an unusual species of bowerbird is that the Green (and Spotted) Catbird does not create the usual "bower" nest that other bowerbirds are well known for, by piling twigs and sticks into towers or tunnels.  Instead, the nest of this species consists typically of wet wood underneath twigs and leaves.  

Also, Green (and Spotted) Catbirds are monogamous, not promiscuous like other bowerbirds, and males pair with one female, defend territories, and help to feed the nestlings.  Catbirds also often feed on fig fruits and -- again, oddly for bowerbirds in general -- tend to kill the nestlings of other species to feed their own young!  

Green (and Spotted) Catbirds have a nearly iridescent greenish sheen to the back and the flight feathers.  

The wing and tail feathers are also marked with narrow edging of white at the tips, as shown here.  

In the main photo, above, that's not "red-eye" caused by the camera flash; the species has a characteristic red eye, along with a whitish bill and dusky black to the crown, nape, and ear coverts.  

No other bowerbird, at least in Australia, sports such striking coloration and the red eye.  

But it is the weird, crying call of the Green (and Spotted) Catbird that is most distinctive, often heard in the pale dawn light in the tropical forests.  Here are several recordings I made of its diverse vocalizations:

I strung a banana in a net from the rafters of the outside porch, and soon a Spotted Catbird appeared ... leaping up to snag bits of the fruit.  These photos show its relatively short and stubby wings.  Catbirds cannot hover -- with their short, rounded wings, they have a heavy "wing loading" -- so it did its best to jump and grab morsels.

Leapin' Spotted Catbird, indeed!

Information:
     Simpson, K., and N. Day. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia. Sixth edition. Penguin Books, Victoria, Australia. 440 pp.