About the Meratus White-eye
The Meratus white-eye is a species of bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. The species was described in 2021 by the Indonesian ornithologist Mohammed Irham and his colleagues based on genetic, morphological, and vocal differences from other Zosterops white-eyes. It is endemic to the Meratus Mountains of Indonesian Borneo, where it has been observed on Mount Besar and Mount Karokangen. It inhabits the mid and lower storeys of closed-canopy montane forests at elevations between 1,300 and 1,650 m. It is a typical Zosterops white-eye, with deep olive-green upperparts, yellower underparts, a yellow stripe across the lores, and a distinctive bicoloured bill. Adults have a length of around…
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ID tip
The Meratus white-eye is a typical Zosterops white-eye with deep olive-green upperparts, more yellow underparts, a yellow stripe across the lores, and a distinctive bicoloured bill. Adults have a length of around 11–12 cm (4.3–4.7 in) and a mass of 8.5–9.5 g (0.30–0.34 oz). The wing length is 48.7–50.8 mm (1.92–2.00 in), the length of the bill is 35 mm (1.4 in), and the tail length is 12.5–13.7 mm (0.49–0.54 in). The species shows no sexual dimorphism; males and females both look alike. Voice: The song of the Meratus white-eye is one to three second long "warbling series of high-pitched short notes, ending with a faster, lower-pitched jumble". The white-eye's usual call is a high, "buzzy" zip. Spectrograms of the songs of Meratus and lemon-bellied white-eyes show the Meratus white-eye's calls being consistently higher-pitched and having shorter "phrases".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
When to see it
Peak activity in September · a winter visitor species across most of its range
Easily confused with
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