Endangered
Golden white-eye
Cleptornis marchei
Golden white-eye is a perching bird in the family Zosteropidae (order Passeriformes) — Cleptornis marchei, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The golden white-eye differs from the other white-eyes in having large eyes and an outermost primary wing feather that is not reduced (as it is in the other species). It is a large white-eye, 14 cm (5.5 in) long and weighing around 20 g (0.7 oz). The species has bright, unmistakable plumage, with: an orange-yellow head coupled with a pale eye-ring. A yellow-green back, wings, and tail, and golden orange undersides.
Range and habitat
The golden white-eye is endemic to the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, where it currently occurs on the islands of Saipan and Aguijan. Within its range, it occupies a variety of habitats, both natural and man-made. It is common in native forests, particularly limestone forests, but also occurs in open shrubland and suburban areas.
The species is restricted to the islands of Saipan and Aguijan in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it is sympatric (shares its range) and competes with the related bridled white-eye. The range of the golden white-eye has contracted considerably since the arrival of humans in the Mariana Islands.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Like other white-eyes, the golden white-eye is diurnal. In contrast to the bridled white-eye, that forages in groups and is not territorial, the golden white-eye occurs in pairs or small family groups consisting of a breeding pair and fledged young.
While it chases other forest passerines, it is less aggressive towards them, and in fact the rufous fantail seeks out the golden white-eye, foraging behind it to snatch insects flushed by the latter species. Nectar forms part of the diet, and, along with the Micronesian myzomela and the bridled white-eye, the golden white-eye is a pollinator of some trees, albeit not one as important as these other species. Breeding occurs throughout the year on Saipan, where the species' nesting behaviour has been studied.
In crisis
Despite its current abundance on Saipan and Aguijan, and the fact that it has among the highest recorded densities for any bird, it is nevertheless considered to be Endangered. It is threatened by the invasive brown tree snake, that has become established on nearby Guam, and this predator is expected to cause a rapid decline in the population if it reaches Saipan. It was believed that Saipan cannot sustain a larger population of this white-eye than it already does.
Nevertheless, the species remained relatively abundant, and the current world population is estimated at around 71,997 birds. The species is nonetheless evaluated as Endangered by the IUCN because the population is expected to undergo a rapid decline if the brown tree snake becomes established on Saipan.
Golden white-eye is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Golden white-eye, Wikidata item Q626401. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
