Scientific Name: Zosterops palpebrosus

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Other Names: Oriental White Eye

A small bird with a puffy ball of white and yellow feathers as plumage, found mostly in the highlands of Sri Lanka. The range of the bird includes the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia all the way to the South China Sea.

The Indian White Eye is known for its strong flurry of activity, even called “hyperactive” for its busy lifestyle. This species of bird is known to travel as collectives, with mixed species flocks being a common phenomenon. These miniature busybodies are found from brackish water mangroves all the way to altitudes of thousands of feet. The formation of flocks makes the Indian White Eye a social species and with the advent of mating time they cease to live as part of a flock, pairing up for breeding rituals.

The two most prominent features of the Indian White Eye is the puffy ball of belly feathers and the spectacles around the eye which are both colored in a bright white. They are known to bounce in flight as they maneuver their bodies in air. The upper parts neck upwards, are made of a canary yellow that is bright and distinguishes the Indian White Eye from the Sri Lankan white eye, the latter having a greenish coloration that makes the upper parts duller.

The Indian White Eye is known for its nasal birdcall and being a pollinator of plant species as they feed on nectar, although they prefer insects as their number one dietary choice. They are also known to steal fiber material from other nests to build their own nests. Their characteristic nests are composed of cobwebs, lichens and strands of plant fiber. Both sexes are known to participate in brooding of the young that fledge after a 10 day interval.

Source: E-Bird and Wikipedia.