Gilbert's honeyeater was originally described by John Gould in 1848,[3] who gave it the species epithet chloropsis from the Ancient Greek terms chloros 'green-yellow' and opsis 'eye'.

[4] Gregory Mathews coined the name Melithreptus whitlocki in 1909 from a specimen collected by a Mr F. L. Whitlock from Wilson Inlet.

Within the genus, it is classified in the subgenus Melithreptus, along with the white-naped, black-headed and white-throated honeyeaters; these all forage for insects in foliage or canopy, rather than on bark or branches, congregate in larger flocks, and are found in more open, dry sclerophyll forest and savanna.

[7] More recently, DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.

[16] It inhabits dry sclerophyll forests dominated by jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), karri (E. diversicolor) or marri (Corymbia calophylla) inland, tuart (E. gomphocephala), flooded gum (E. rudis) or narrow-leaved paperbark (Melaleuca laxiflora) on the coastal plain,[14] or wandoo (E. wandoo) woodland.

[17] Gilbert's honeyeater mainly forages in the foliage and flowers in the canopy of tall eucalypts, though at times it ventures into understory plants and on the bark of treetrunks.

[13] The nests are usually made of bark fibres, rootlets and dry grasses at a height of up to 10 m above the ground.

The clutch is of two, occasionally three, pale buff eggs marked with reddish-brown and grey spots and blotches, 18 x 14.4 mm in size.

[12] Gilbert's honeyeater has a harsh, grating call, as well as a continuously uttered, single-noted tsip.