• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
• Resources

Taxonomic note
Zosterops japonicus has been split into Z. japonicus and Z. simplex, and Z. montanus has been lumped with the resulting Z. japonicus following detailed work on genetics, morphology and vocalisations (Round et al. 2017, Lim et al. 2019).

Subspecies Z. j. hainanus has been transferred to Z. simplex (Handbook of the Birds of the World 2019, Lim et al. 2019). 

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2019. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 4. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v4_Dec19.zip.
Lim, B.T., Sadanandan, K.R., Dingle, C., Leung, Y.Y., Prawiradilaga, D.M., Irham, M., Ashari, H., Lee, J.G. & Rheindt, F.E. 2019. Molecular evidence suggests radical revision of species limits in the great speciator white-eye genus Zosterops. Journal of Ornithology 160(1): 1-16.
Round, P. D., Manawattana, S., Khudamrongsawat, J., Thunhikorn, S., Safoowong, M., & Bhummakasikara, T. 2017. Disentangling avian diversity: South-East Asian mainland Oriental White-eye Zosterops palpebrosus constitutes two distinct lineages. Forktail 33: 103-115.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Least Concern
2016	Not Recognised
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	unset	Forest dependency	unset
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	16,300,000 km2
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	15,100,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	unknown	-	-	-

Population justification: No population estimate has been made, however the species is the result of merging two species that were common in much of their range and so it is likely to have a very large global population.

Trend justification: The population trend of this species is unknown, however it is not thought to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly for the species to be threatened.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Indonesia	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native	yes
Philippines	extant	native	yes
South Korea	extant	native	yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 2660 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Mountain White-eye Zosterops japonicus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/mountain-white-eye-zosterops-japonicus on 05/01/2025.
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 05/01/2025.