Zosterops lateralis
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The silvereye or wax-eye (Zosterops lateralis), also known by its Māori name tauhou, is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is more commonly used to refer to all members of the genus Zosterops, or the entire family Zosteropidae.
In New Zealand, the silvereye was first recorded in 1832. It arrived in greater numbers in 1856, and it is assumed that a migrating flock was swept eastwards by a storm. As an apparently self-introduced bird it is protected as a native New Zealand species. Its Māori name, tauhou, means "stranger" or more literally, "new arrival".
The silvereye was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name Sylvia lateralis. Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Auckland Zoo | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Edward Youde Aviary | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Silvereye sighting in Melbourne on a given day, based on 7,408 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 42nd most-seen of the 236 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March to May
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Silvereye in Melbourne on a given day, against about 20% in June to February, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Silvereye sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Silvereye sightings, Melbourne ranks 5th at about 20%. The best odds are in Hobart (Australia, about 70%), Auckland (New Zealand, about 60%) and Perth (Australia, about 40%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Silvereye that you can see in Melbourne (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Australian Magpie (about 90%), Noisy Miner (about 80%) and Little Raven (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Silvereye is recorded against all the birds logged in Melbourne (7,408 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.
