Zosterops japonicus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The warbling white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. The specific epithet is occasionally written japonica, but this is incorrect due to the gender of the genus. Its native range includes much of East Asia, including the Russian Far East, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and the Philippines. It has been intentionally introduced to other parts of the world as a pet and as pest control, with mixed results. As one of the native species of the Japanese islands, it has been depicted in Japanese art on numerous occasions, and historically was kept as a cage bird.
The warbling white-eye was described by the ornithologists Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Hermann Schlegel in 1847 from a specimen collected in Japan. They coined the binomial name Zosterops japonicus. The English name "Japanese white-eye" was formerly used for Zosterops japonicus and what are now the Philippine subspecies of Z. japonicus were treated as a separate species, the "mountain white-eye" Z. montanus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that Z. montanus and several subspecies of Z. japonicus were conspecific, and they were therefore lumped together. They... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Ueno Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 3 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 4 | Ueno Zoological Gardens (West Garden) | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 5 | Butterfly World | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Warbling White-eye sighting in Sapporo on a given day, based on 53 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 30th most-seen of the 72 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Warbling White-eye in Sapporo on a given day, against under 5% in November to February, the lowest months. That is one of Sapporo's wettest months, with about 160 mm of rain against 60 mm in April.
Between midnight and 3 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Warbling White-eye sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
11th of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Warbling White-eye sightings, Sapporo ranks 11th at about 10%. The best odds are in Fukuoka (Japan, about 60%), Busan (South Korea, about 60%) and Naha (Japan, about 60%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Warbling White-eye that you can see in Sapporo (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Cinereous Tit (about 90%), Large-billed Crow (about 90%) and Brown-eared Bulbul (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Warbling White-eye is recorded against all the birds logged in Sapporo (53 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.
