Yellow-fronted White-eye
Encyclopedia
The Vanuatu White-eye or Yellow-fronted White-eye (Zosterops flavifrons) is a small passerine
bird
belonging to the genus Zosterops
in the white-eye
family Zosteropidae. It is endemic
to Vanuatu
where it is one of the most common birds.
It is 11–12 cm long. The adult male is yellow-green above while the underparts are bright yellow or yellow-green depending on the subspecies
. The forehead is yellow and there is a white ring around the eye. The legs and feet are dark grey and the bill
is brown above and pinkish below. Female and immature birds are similar to the male but paler. The immatures also have a narrower eye-ring.
The contact call is short and high-pitched. The song
is a repeated warbling.
There are seven subspecies
distributed almost throughout Vanuatu from the Banks Islands
in the north to Aneityum in the south. The species occurs in a variety of habitats including forest, plantations and gardens from sea-level to the mountains. It forages in bushes and trees, moving around in pairs or small flocks. The varied diet includes insect
s, nectar and fruit
such as lantana
berries and wild fig
s.
The neat, cup-shaped nest
is built 2.5 metres or more above the ground and is made of grass, pieces of bark and spider web
s. The eggs
are bluish-white and there are three in a clutch.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
belonging to the genus Zosterops
Zosterops
Zosterops is a genus of birds containing the typical white-eyes. They are traditionally placed in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae, which may actually be a part of the Timaliidae, however...
in the white-eye
White-eye
White-eye can refer to:*White-eye , a large family of birds.*White-eye , a species of fish.*White-eye mutation, a mutation in Drosophila melanogaster linked to the X chromosome, found by reciprocal cross breeding experiments in 1906.*A lioness member of the Marsh Pride of lions that have featured...
family Zosteropidae. It is endemic
Endemism in birds
An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....
to Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
where it is one of the most common birds.
It is 11–12 cm long. The adult male is yellow-green above while the underparts are bright yellow or yellow-green depending on the subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. The forehead is yellow and there is a white ring around the eye. The legs and feet are dark grey and the bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
is brown above and pinkish below. Female and immature birds are similar to the male but paler. The immatures also have a narrower eye-ring.
The contact call is short and high-pitched. The song
Bird song
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs are distinguished by function from calls.-Definition:The distinction between songs and calls is based upon...
is a repeated warbling.
There are seven subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
distributed almost throughout Vanuatu from the Banks Islands
Banks Islands
The Banks Islands are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu.Together with the Torres Islands to the northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba. The group lies about north of Maewo, and includes Gaua and Vanua Lava, two of the 13 largest islands in Vanuatu...
in the north to Aneityum in the south. The species occurs in a variety of habitats including forest, plantations and gardens from sea-level to the mountains. It forages in bushes and trees, moving around in pairs or small flocks. The varied diet includes insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, nectar and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
such as lantana
Lantana
Lantana is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in the Australian-Pacific region. The genus includes both...
berries and wild fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s.
The neat, cup-shaped nest
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
is built 2.5 metres or more above the ground and is made of grass, pieces of bark and spider web
Spider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s. The eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
are bluish-white and there are three in a clutch.