The Christmas white-eye (''Zosterops natalis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Zosteropidae The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

and

subtropical or tropical moist shrubland The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

. It is threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Description

The Christmas white-eye has a length of between . The upper parts are greyish-olive and the underparts whitish. There is a yellowish streak above the eye and a distinctive white feather

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

surrounding the eye.

Distribution and habitat

The genus ''

Zosterops ''Zosterops'' (meaning "eye-girdle") is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. The genus has the largest number of species in the white-eye family. They occur in the Afrotropical, Indo ...

'' is an island specialist, with 82 of the 98 species being restricted to islands, and many species being known from only a single island. It is a highly successful group, having an unspecialised diet and a great dispersal capacity. The Christmas white-eye is

to Christmas Island, but it has also been successfully introduced to the

Cocos (Keeling) Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

where it has become established, but mostly around human settlements. On Christmas Island it occurs in forests all over the island at altitudes up to about , as well as in gardens, the vicinity of abandoned mines and

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

y agricultural land.

Behaviour

The Christmas white-eye has a varied diet including fruits, seeds, nectar and insects.

Status

The invasive

yellow crazy ant The yellow crazy ant (''Anoplolepis gracilipes''), also known as the long-legged ant or Maldive ant, is a species of ant, thought to be native to West Africa or Asia. They have been accidentally introduced to numerous places in the world's trop ...

(''Anoplolepis gracilipes'') has had a dramatic impact on the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

of Christmas Island. It has severely reduced and nearly eliminated the red land crabs and increased the presence of the stinging tree (''Dendrocnide peltata'') in the canopy. The increased populations of

scale insect Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...

s, which are tended by yellow crazy ants, have provided foraging opportunities for the white-eye and the resurgence of the ant has not deleteriously impacted the bird as was previously feared. The white-eye is a common bird with a stable population, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has rated its conservation status as least concern. The subpopulation on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is estimated to be about 5% of the size of the Christmas Island population, but it provides a second location which should reduce the risk that a natural disaster will cause

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1430628

Christmas white-eye The Christmas white-eye (''Zosterops natalis'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to Christmas Island. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and subtropical or tropical moist shrub ...

Birds of Christmas Island

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot