Heuglin's white-eye (''Zosterops poliogastrus''), also known as the Ethiopian white-eye (formerly the montane white-eye), 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 lightweig ...

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 found in north-eastern and eastern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, primarily in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. 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 range from subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

s, to subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland,

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s, and rural gardens. The

Mbulu white-eye The Mbulu white-eye (''Zosterops mbuluensis'') is a bird species in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Mbulu white-eye was formerly treated as a subspecies of the montane white-eye (''Zosterops pol ...

, the south Pare white-eye and the

broad-ringed white-eye The broad-ringed white-eye (''Zosterops eurycricotus'') or Kilimanjaro white-eye is a bird species in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in northeast Tanzania. The broad-ringed white-eye was formerly considered a subspecies of the montane whi ...

were formerly considered as subspecies of Heuglin's white-eye. They were promoted to species rank based on a molecular

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

study published in 2014. To reflect this change, the English name was changed from "montane white-eye" to "Heuglin's white-eye". There are three subspecies: * ''Z. p. kulalensis'' (Kulal) Williams, JG, 1948 – Mount Kulal (north Kenya) * ''Z. p. poliogastrus'' (Ethiopian) Heuglin, 1861 – southeast Sudan, Eritrea, north, central, and east Ethiopia * ''Z. p. kaffensis'' (Kaffa) Neumann, 1902 – west and southwest Ethiopia

Identification by subspecies

Heuglin's white-eye (Kulal)

The Kulal Heuglin's white-eye adult male is about 11-12 centimeters long. The male sex has different characteristics than the female. The male has a bright yellow forehead, and a lime-green crown (top of a bird's head) and upper feathers. Its flight feather colors vary from brownish black to grey and edge off with a matching green tint to its crown. Its tail is like its flight feathers, brownish black to grey with green edges. The belly is a bright white that fades into the color of its surrounding feathers. Different from the male, the female may have a yellow belly and wings that are mostly grey. 

Heuglin's white-eye (Ethiopian)

The Ethiopian Heuglin's white-eye has a vivid yellow head and crown that extends all the way to its white eyering (a circle of color around a bird's eye) and a narrow black line extending from the eye to its black beak. Underneath the beak, the rest of the head is yellow as well. On the Ethiopian Heuglin's white-eye, the flight feathers have a lime-green coloration. The tips of the feathers then shift to a brownish black. Both sexes share the same attributes. 

Heuglin's white-eye (Kaffa)

The crown of the Kaffa Heuglin's white-eye is rich green with a yellow forehead leading to its black bill. Under the beak, yellow and green are the dominant colors of the chin. Its eyering is white and is slightly larger than the Ethiopian white-eye's. Depending on their diet, their flight feathers are brownish-black that fade into a yellow-green edge. The tail generally matches the flight feathers but tends to be a shiny, dark brown. The breast of the bird has green flanks (the sides of the bird's body) that fade into a yellow-tinged middle. Both sexes share the same attributes.

Habitat and distribution

During the dry season, the Heuglin's white-eye are commonly found in large flocks of up to fifty birds. However, in the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

, flocks of this size are only seen in the early mornings or late afternoons. The habitat of the Heuglin's white-eye varies by subspecies.

Heuglin's white-eye (Kulal)

The Heuglin's white-eye (Kulal) habitat typically consists of forest edges and wet bush. However, during the wet season they can be found in drier bush at lower altitudes, and in the dry season they can be found in montane forests at higher altitudes. 

Heuglin's white-eye (Ethiopian)

The Heuglin's white-eye (Ethiopian) habitat generally consists of woodland and forest edges, as well as isolated cultivations. In these areas, they commonly live in younger growths or shorter trees. They live anywhere from 1340 to 3640 meters in Ethiopia and above 1800 meters in South Sudan. 

Heuglin's white-eye (Kaffa)

The Heuglin's white-eye (Kaffa) habitat generally consists of woodland and forest edges, as well as highlands with younger areas of secondary growth. They typically live within the 1340 to 3640 meter elevational band (a section of altitude above sea level). 

Migration

Both the Heuglin's white-eye (Ethiopian) and (Kaffa) are nonmigrants (sedentary), while the Heuglin's white-eye (Kulal) descends from higher to lower altitudes as the wet season approaches. 

Diet

The Heuglin's white-eye diet mainly consists of berries and small insects. However, in the months of September and November they can be found

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

Leonotis ''Leonotis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae.Raymond M. Harley, Sandy Atkins, Andrey L. Budantsev, Philip D. Cantino, Barry J. Conn, Renée J. Grayer, Madeline M. Harley, Rogier P.J. de Kok, Tatyana V. Krestovskaja, Ramón ...

flowers. During the dry season, this bird is mainly

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

, while insectivorous in the wet season.

References

Heuglin's white-eye Birds of East Africa Heuglin's white-eye Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Zosteropidae-stub