Zosterops maderaspatanus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Malagasy white-eye (Zosterops maderaspatanus) is a species of bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. Found in Madagascar and Seychelles, its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Malagasy white-eye in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name Le petit figuier de Madagascar and the Latin Ficedula Madagascariensis minor. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Malagasy white-eye. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla maderaspatana and cited Brisson's work. Although Linnaeus gave the type locality as Madagascar he confusingly used the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 3 | Berenty Reserve | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 4 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar White-eye sighting in Berenty Reserve on a given day, based on 88 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 63 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Madagascar White-eye sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Madagascar White-eye sightings, Berenty Reserve ranks 3rd at about 40%. The best odds are in Mantadia National Park (Madagascar, about 70%) and Ranomafana National Park (Madagascar, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Madagascar White-eye that you can see in Berenty Reserve (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Crested Drongo (about 90%), Pied Crow (about 90%) and Madagascar Paradise-Flycatcher (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Madagascar White-eye is recorded against all the birds logged in Berenty Reserve (88 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
