Japanese White-eye

The Japanese White-eye is a small, energetic songbird with bright olive-green upperparts, a yellow throat, and pale grayish-white underparts. Its most distinctive feature is the conspicuous ring of white feathers encircling each eye, which gives the whole family its common name. The bill is short, thin, and slightly downcurved, well suited to probing flowers for nectar and gleaning tiny insects.

Highly social, white-eyes travel in small, constantly chattering flocks that move through the canopy and shrub layer together, rarely staying still for long. The species has also been introduced outside its native range, most notably to the Hawaiian Islands, where it is now one of the most abundant land birds.

Key field marks

• Bright olive-green back, head, and wings
• Bold, unbroken white eye-ring on an otherwise plain face
• Yellow throat and upper breast, fading to pale grayish-white belly
• Small size and constant, active movement in flocks

Similar species

• Warbling White-eye in Hawaii is the same species (introduced) and looks identical.
• Other regional white-eye species can be very similar; range and subtle underpart color are the main clues.
• No other small East Asian songbird combines the white eye-ring with an all-green back and yellow throat.

Habitat

Occupies forest canopy and edge, secondary growth, bamboo thickets, and readily uses gardens, orchards, and urban parks with flowering trees.

Range

Native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and eastern China; introduced and now well established in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

Migration

Northern populations are partially migratory, moving south for winter, while southern and introduced populations are largely resident.

Behavior

Forages in constantly moving, twittering flocks, gleaning insects from leaves and probing blossoms for nectar; agile and acrobatic, often hanging from thin branches.

Voice

A thin, high, wheezy warbling song and a soft, contact "tsee" or "chee" call kept up almost continuously by flock members.

Feeding

Eats small insects and spiders, nectar from flowering trees and shrubs, and soft fruit, using its brush-tipped tongue to lap up nectar.

Nesting

Builds a small, neat cup nest of grass, moss, and spider silk suspended in a fork of a shrub or low tree branch; lays 2-4 pale blue eggs.