Small bird with thin bill that is more substantial than most other gerygones’. Upperparts brown, underparts off-white, with pale broken eyering and bright red eye. Juvenile lacks red eye and has yellow gape (base of bill). Similar Mangrove Gerygone has smaller bill, no split eyering, and a more delicate, less frantic song; Brown Gerygone has a smaller bill, unmusical "which-is-it" song. Inhabits mangroves, thick riparian vegetation.