Zosterops maderaspatanus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% 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 50% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar White-eye sighting in Antananarivo on a given day, based on 518 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 69 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar White-eye in Antananarivo on a given day, against about 40% in November and December, the lowest months. That is one of Antananarivo's wettest months, with about 380 mm of rain against 45 mm in September.
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.
Only Antananarivo, in our data
Antananarivo is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Madagascar White-eye sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Madagascar White-eye that you can see in Antananarivo (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Madagascar Fody (about 90%), Malagasy Brush Warbler (about 50%) and Madagascar Bulbul (about 40%), 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 Antananarivo (518 verified sightings), 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.
