A large, burly greenbul with greenish upperparts and yellowish underparts. It has a distinctive red-brown eye with a diagnostic broken white eye-ring. A small shaggy crest and yellowish underwings further differentiate it. Pairs or small groups skulk in thickets and forest edge, where they forage on fruits and insects and are often first detected by their nagging nasal “yeehn-yeehn-yeehn” calls and various chattering. The similar Joyful Greenbul differs from Yellow-bellied Greenbul by having olivaceous rather than yellowish underparts and by lacking the white eye-ring.