Description: This small songbird grows to approximately 10 cm long. Its upperparts are a dull olive green while its underparts are paler. The distinctive white rings around its eyes have given rise to its French name oiseau à lunettes (”bird with glasses”). It feeds on nectar of native plants and may also eat fruits and insects.
Fun facts:
- The Mauritius olive white-eye has the dubious distinction of being Mauritius’s most endangered bird. Its current population consists of an estimated 100-150 pairs down from an estimated 350 pairs in 1975.
- The Mauritius Olive White-eye has the longest beak and tongue and is the most specialised nectar-feeder of the seventy-plus species in its genus (Zosterops).
- It is heavily dependent on native vegetation. Its curved bill is very well adapted to feeding on nectar of several native species including Trochetia species, a group of plants which is unique to Mauritius and Réunion.
- One possible cause for the decline in Mauritius olive white-eye numbers is completion for the nectar of native plants with the honey bee introduced to Mauritius about 300 years ago.
- Starting in 2005, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation has been leading species recovery efforts for the olive white-eye using strategies such as hand-rearing of chicks and release on Ile aux Aigrettes which is free from predators such as rats, monkeys and wild cats.