Kenya White-eye (Zosterops flavilateralis) | Details

Kenya White-eye Zosterops flavilateralis

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note

Zosterops abyssinicus and Z. flavilateralis (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as Z. abyssinicus following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) and Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,090,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	-	-
Generation length	2.55 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified. This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 4.2% within its mapped range over the past 10 years (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it is tentatively suspected that this loss of cover may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame.

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Ethiopia	Arero forest
Ethiopia	Bogol Manyo - Dolo
Ethiopia	Dawa - Wachile
Ethiopia	Genale river
Ethiopia	Mankubsa - Welenso forest
Ethiopia	Yabello Sanctuary
Kenya	Amboseli National Park
Kenya	Lake Baringo
Kenya	Meru National Park
Kenya	Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves
Kenya	Shaba National Reserve
Kenya	Tsavo East National Park
Kenya	Tsavo West National Park
Somalia	Balcad Nature Reserve
Somalia	Far Waamo
Somalia	Jowhar - Warshiikh
Somalia	Laag Badaana
Somalia	Xawaadley reservoir
Tanzania	Lake Balangida Lelu
Tanzania	Lake Manyara
Tanzania	Lake Natron and Engaruka basin
Tanzania	Longido Game Controlled Area
Tanzania	Mkomazi National Park
Tanzania	Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Tanzania	Nyumba ya Mungu reservoir
Tanzania	Tarangire National Park

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 1800 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Kenya White-eye Zosterops flavilateralis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/kenya-white-eye-zosterops-flavilateralis on 03/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 03/01/2025.