Zosterops palpebrosus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The Indian white-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus), formerly the Oriental white-eye, is a small species of passerine bird in the white-eye family. It is a resident breeder in open woodland on the Indian subcontinent. They forage in small groups, feeding on nectar and small insects. The distinctive white eye-ring and overall yellowish upperparts easily identify them. The range previously extended eastwards to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Their name was recently changed because previous members of Zosterops palpebrosus in Southeast Asia were reclassified as a new species, making the Indian White-eye a more geographically accurate term for this species.
The Indian white-eye was described by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824, based on a specimen collected in Bengal. He coined the binomial name Sylvia palpebrosa. The English and scientific names refer to the conspicuous ring of white feathers round the eyes, palpebrosus being Neo-Latin for "having prominent eyelids", from the Latin palpebrae "eyelids".
The English name of this species was changed from "Oriental white-eye" to "Indian white-eye" to more accurately reflect the geographic range following... Wikipedia →
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India · 2025
© Ashwin A · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
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China · 2022
© Yi-Shan Zhao · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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India · 2025
© Sarvesh Arun · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 2 | Philadelphia Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian White-eye sighting in Varanasi on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 65th most-seen of the 92 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Indian White-eye in Varanasi on a given day, against under 5% in February, May, July, September and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Varanasi's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 250 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian White-eye sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
35th of 46
Of the 46 cities where we can rate Indian White-eye sightings, Varanasi ranks 35th at about 10%. The best odds are in Dehradun (India, about 60%), Nashik (India, about 50%) and Islamabad (Pakistan, about 50%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Indian White-eye that you can see in Varanasi (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Jungle Babbler (about 70%), House Crow (about 60%) and Black Drongo (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Indian White-eye is recorded against all the birds logged in Varanasi (15 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.
