Long-billed White-eye Rukia longirostra Scientific name definitions

13 cm; 17·9 g. Distinctive, with long, thin and curved bill like that of a honeyeater (Meliphagidae); the only white-eye with a bill longer than the tarsus. Plumage is buffy olive above, slightly greener on head, brighter on rump and more buffish on upper­tail-coverts; narrow eyering; flight-feathers and tail feathers blackish-brown with olive to brownish margins, primaries and secondaries with whitish to brownish inner edges; below, much lighter, buffy, strongest on flanks, and with chin, throat and centre of underparts slightly tinged greenish-yellow; iris chestnut-brown; bill brownish-black, basal half of lower mandible brownish with green tinge; legs pale yellow to yellowish-orange. Sexes alike. Juvenile undescribed.

Pohnpei, in EC Caroline Is.

Secondary forest and primary forest in hills and mountains, above 600 m.

Not known.

No details of diet. In small flocks. Forages quietly in canopy, often with Zosterops cinereus. Feeds among flowers of gum tree. Flocks dash rapidly and wildly through forest understorey.

Song a downslurred whistle followed by short warble and burry chatter, e.g. “peer-cheturdle-tr-r-r-r-r-r”; described also as a musical, deep-throated sibilation. Contact call a loud series of clear downslurred whistles, “peer-peer-peer”, less nasal than calls of other white-eyes.

Birds with enlarged gonads in Dec and Feb; one immature specimen in Apr. No other data.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Restricted-range species: present in East Caroline Islands EBA. Widespread, but uncommon. Reported as very rare in 1931 and rare in 1947–48, but this species is inconspicuous, and its apparent rarity may be due to its being overlooked. Vulnerable to encroaching agriculture in its preferred and limited montane habitat, where nearly 90% of sightings were made in c. 10% of the land area. Has apparently declined: encounter rates (individuals per hour) in Pohnpei forest above 200 m were 25·0 in 1983 and 4·1 in 1994 (84% decrease), and below 200 m 2·6 in 1983 and 0·5 in 1994 (83% decrease).