• 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. salvadorii has been lumped into Z. simplex following detailed work on genetics, morphology and vocalisations (Round et al. 2017, Lim et al. 2019).

Subspecies Z. j. hainanus, Z. palpebrosus williamsoni and Z. p. erwini (previously included within Z. p. auriventer) have been transferred to Z. simplex (Handbook of the Birds of the World 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)	10,400,000 km2
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	9,590,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	1.9 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Exact population size estimates for this species are not available, however it is described as common in most of the range. Indeed, it is the most common bird in secondary forest on Hong Kong and also the most popular cage-bird in China (van Balen 2019a). It is abundant on Taiwan. The subspecies Z. s. williamsoni is considered common around the Gulf of Thailand and Z. s. erwini is common in peninsular Malaysia, but scarce in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei. On Sumatra the species was common, but there are concerns that the very high numbers of individuals trapped may be impacting the population. Subspecies Z. s. salvadorii is abundant on Enggano (Eaton et al. 2016).

Trend justification: An overall slow decline may be inferred due to the high levels of trapping.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Brunei	extant	native	yes		yes
Cambodia	extant	native	yes		yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native	yes		yes
Laos	extant	native	yes
Malaysia	extant	native	yes		yes
Myanmar	extant	native	yes
Singapore	extant	native	yes		yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native	yes	yes
Thailand	extant	native	yes		yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Indonesia	Pulau Enggano

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Swamp	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 2590 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						Low Impact: 3
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	national, international

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Swinhoe's White-eye Zosterops simplex. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/swinhoes-white-eye-zosterops-simplex on 12/01/2025.
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 12/01/2025.