Mountain Black-eye

Identification

The mountain blackeye is a small passerine, ranging in length from 11 to 14 cm (4.3 to 5.5 in). Compared to most other white-eyes, it is larger and longer-tailed. The only known measured individual (sex unknown) weighed 13.9 g (0.49 oz). Male and female are similarly plumaged. The adult of the nominate race, emiliae, is dark olive-green on the head and upperparts with a blackish tinge to the green, particularly on the crown. Its underparts are somewhat paler, with a yellowish tint, particularly towards the center of the belly. It has a black eye-ring and black lores, which connect to form a small dark mask, edged by a yellow border. It has a bright yellow-green supraloral and throat. Its iris is brown, and its long, slender, pointed, decurved bill is brown on the upper mandible and bright yellow-orange on the lower. Its legs and feet are dark yellowish-brown to black, with yellow soles. The immature bird is like the adult, though with a duller-colored bill; this is typically dull orange to blackish.<p>The subspecies trinitae is similar to emiliae, but brighter and more yellowish overall. Its belly is almost completely yellow, and it shows more yellow on the face. The subspecies fusciceps is smaller and relatively shorter-tailed than emiliae, with a sepia tint to its crown and forehead. Its underparts are yellow. The subspecies moultoni is similar to fusciceps. It is the palest of the subspecies, showing more yellow in its plumage; its underparts are dark green.<p>The mountain blackeye has a melodious song, variously transcribed as "wit-weet-weet-weet-weetee-weetee-tee" or "werwit-kukewtoweeo". It also sings a shorter titiweeio". One of its calls is a sharp "pweet". Its wings make a distinctive noise when it flies: a whirring trrt trrt, while its flight call is transcribed as "gujuguju" (with a short "u" sound). It has a trio of perching calls: "wi-u", "siwi-u", and "ie-wio".

Taxonomy

Richard Bowdler Sharpe first described the mountain blackeye in 1888, using a specimen collected on Mount Kinabalu in northern Borneo. He named it Chlorocharis emiliae, putting it into a monotypic genus that he created for the species. It remained in that genus for more than a century, with its affinities to other members of Zosteropidae (white-eye) family unclear. However, molecular phylogenetic studies done early in the 21st century showed that it actually nested comfortably within the genus Zosterops, leading Chlorocharis to be subsumed into that larger genus. Phylogenetic studies have shown that it is more closely related to species on other Sundaland islands than it is to species in Borneo's lowlands.<p>There are four recognized subspecies. These show a clinal variation. Those in the north are the largest, darkest, and relatively longest-tailed, while those in the south are the smallest, palest, and relatively shortest-tailed. Mitochondrial DNA studies have shown that the species divides neatly into two clades, one in Sabah and the other in Sarawak. Researchers theorize that the subspecies that make up the two clades were separated by glacial events, diverging as long ago as the mid-Pleistocene.<p>The genus name Zosterops is a combination of the Ancient Greek words zoster, meaning "girdle" or "belt" and ops meaning "eye". The species name emiliae commemorates Emilie Hose, wife of Charles Hose, an English naturalist and collector. Other common names include olive blackeye or simply black-eye.

Scientific name

Zosterops emiliae

Authority

(Sharpe, 1888)

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Zosteropidae

Genus

Zosterops

Range and habitat

The mountain blackeye is endemic to the high mountains of Borneo, where it is the most common bird on the summit slopes of the island’s highest mountains: Kinabalu, Tambuyukon and Trus Madi. It is also found on several isolated lower mountains. It occurs in both Malaysian states (Sabah and Sarawak) and four of the five Indonesian provinces (North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan) on the island, but has never been recorded in Brunei. Its habitats include primary upper montane forest, summit scrub, and gully vegetation. While it generally occurs at elevations above 1,800 m (5,900 ft), it may move to lower elevations during periods of drought.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

Much of the life history and ecology of the mountain blackeye is not well-known. The species is resident, with no migratory movements. Its generation length is estimated at 4.4 years.<p>The mountain blackeye feeds on nectar, pollen, insects (particularly caterpillars, grasshoppers and beetles), and small berries, including raspberries. It has a modified tongue—tubular with a brush-like tip—which allows it to easily sip nectar. It feeds at all heights, from the ground to the canopy, often foraging in small groups. It visits the flowers of Eugenia, Schima, Elaeocarpus and several Rhododendron species. Studies indicate that it may be an important pollinator of Rhododendron buxifolium; it also regularly visits Rhododendron ericoides and Rhododendron acuminatum. It is an occasional partner in a symbiotic relationship with Nepenthes lowii, a pitcher-plant which is also endemic to Borneo. The plant produces waxy secretions on the lid of its pitcher. Although treeshrews are the primary consumers of these secretions, mountain blackeyes also partake, sometimes defecating into the pitchers as they do so. Treeshrew and bird feces provide nutrients for the plant; studies have shown that some plants get 57–100% of their nitrogen from animal feces. Because the waxy secretions are produced year-round, they can be an important food source for mountain blackeyes when other plants are not in flower, or when insects are hard to find.<p>The breeding ecology of the mountain blackeye is only poorly known. It breeds in February, March, June, and September. The nest is a shallow cup made of rootlets and dried grass, and lined with the sporophyte stalks or setae of mosses. It measures roughly 7.5 cm (3.0 in) across and is typically built in the fork of a branch of a Leptospermum tree within 1 to 8 m (3 to 26 ft) of the ground. The female lays a single egg, and the hatched nestling takes 14–15 days to fledge. Because of the low temperatures and high moisture levels at the elevations where mountain blackeyes breed, the birds spend considerable time incubating their chick early in its development, when it cannot regulate its own body temperature. This means that they spend less time foraging for food for the chick, which delays its development. When nests were experimentally heated and covered against the rain, parents spent less time at the nest, chicks gained weight faster, grew wing feathers quicker, and fledged earlier.

Conservation

Population trend

declining