The Vanikoro white-eye (''Zosterops gibbsi'') 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 ...

Vanikoro Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thoug ...

in the

Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...

Temotu Province Temotu (or Te Motu, literally "the island" in Polynesian) is the easternmost province of Solomon Islands. The province was formerly known as Santa Cruz Islands Province. It consists, essentially, of two chains of islands which run parallel to ...

in the south-east of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

chain.Dutson, Guy. (2008). A new species of White-eye ''Zosterops'' and notes on other birds from Vanikoro, Solomon Islands. ''Ibis'' 150(4): 698-706. The species is named for David Gibbs, who discovered it.

Description

The Vanikoro white-eye differs from its geographically closest congener, the Santa Cruz white-eye (''Zosterops sanctaecrucis''), by several features including a much longer bill and different eye-ring and leg colouring.

Habitat

The Santa Cruz Islands lie in the

Vanuatu rain forests The Vanuatu rain forests are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion which includes the islands of Vanuatu, as well as the Santa Cruz Islands group of the neighboring Solomon Islands. It is part of the Australasian realm, which ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. Within its range the Vanikoro white-eye is common in upland forests although it also occurs in degraded lowland forests.

Behaviour

Observations of the

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

of the Vanikoro white-eye suggest that it is a

cooperative breeder Cooperative breeding is a social system characterized by alloparental care: offspring receive care not only from their parents, but also from additional group members, often called helpers. Cooperative breeding encompasses a wide variety of group s ...

, with additional helpers aiding the breeding pair, an unusual trait in ''Zosterops'' white-eyes. The nest of this species is a deep bowl of woven grass stems. The species forages in trees and frequently feeds on the trunks of trees and on the underside of branches.

Status

This species has been assessed by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

in 2016 as being one of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. The upland forests that comprise its main habitat are not thought to be threatened by deforestation and the island is seldom visited, reducing opportunities for the accidental introduction of dangerous

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, so the species is probably not threatened at the moment.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1451428

Vanikoro white-eye The Vanikoro white-eye (''Zosterops gibbsi'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to Vanikoro in the Santa Cruz Islands of Temotu Province in the south-east of the Solomon Islands chain.Dutson, Guy. (2008). A new specie ...

Birds of the Santa Cruz Islands Endemic fauna of the Solomon Islands

Endemic birds of the Solomon Islands