Mayotte White-eye Zosterops mayottensis Scientific name definitions

11 cm; 9·9 g. Has forehead bright citrine-yellow, lores black, white eyering; crown and upperparts greenish-yellow; flight-feathers and tail blackish, edged greenish-yellow on outer web, remiges broadly edged white on inner web; bright citrine-yellow below , including underwing-coverts, flanks washed brownish-red; iris reddish-brown; bill dark blue to black, base of lower mandible grey; legs lead-grey, soles dull ochraceous. Sexes alike. Juvenile is greener, less yellowish, than adult on upperparts, duller below, with less extensive chestnut.

Mayotte (Maore), including Petite Terre (Pamanzi I), in SE Comoro Is.

Both forest and more open woodland, mangroves. More often seen in drier E side of Mayotte; less common in patches of rainforest.

Not known.

Vegetable matter, insects, caterpillars, spiders (Araneae). Forages in small groups through trees and shrubs.

No detailed information available; reported to produce vocalizations  typical of the genus.

Nest found in Oct, an open cup of very fine fibres, covered on outside with fine grass-heads and a little spider web, 70 × 70 mm externally, 40 mm deep and 45 mm wide internally; placed c. 2 m above ground in lateral fork of heavily foliaged bush. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Comoro Islands EBA. Common on Mayotte, and fairly common on Petite Terre. The only white-eye present in its range. This species is less common than is the related Z. maderaspatanus (on Grand Comoro); reasons for this unknown, but possibly connected with the high densities of Frances’s Sparrowhawk (Accipiter francesiae) in forest habitat on Mayotte. As it is well adapted to man-made habitats, where insects and nectar abound, survival seems to be no problem. Numbers were randomly distributed over nine counting stations in 1992–1994.