Socotra White-Eye (Zosterops socotranus) — Vorstman's Guide to the Birds of North Africa and the Middle East

Voice

A high, thin tsiu and soft contact calls within the group; the song is a fast, thin twittering, mainly in the morning.

Listen: CallXC1091777

Recording: Mischa Keijmel — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto

Identification

10–11 cm. A small, compact white-eye with a broad white eye-ring, narrowly broken at the front, and a fine black loral line. Upperparts olive-green, throat and undertail-coverts pale yellow, breast and flanks greyish white and belly white. Bill fine and dark, legs grey. Sexes alike; young birds are duller with a smaller eye-ring.

Confusion species

There is no other white-eye on Socotra. Socotra Warbler (Incana incana) is grey-brown, long-tailed and lacks the eye-ring; Socotra Cisticola (Cisticola haesitatus) is streaked brown. Socotra Sunbird (Chalcomitra balfouri) is larger and grey-brown with a long, decurved bill. According to the literature it differs subtly from Abyssinian White-eye (Zosterops abyssinicus) of the mainland, among other things in its less yellow underparts; in the field, location decides.

Habitat

Scrub of Croton and other shrubs, wooded wadis with figs and tamarind, stands of frankincense and dragon's blood trees on the limestone plateau, and the cloud forest of the Hajhir mountains; also in gardens and palm groves near villages. From sea level to the highest peaks.

Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.

Range and movements

Only on Socotra (Yemen), where it occurs throughout the island, most numerous in the wadis and on the slopes of the Hajhir massif and the Dixam plateau. There are no confirmed records from the smaller islands of the archipelago (Abd al-Kuri, Samha, Darsa). Some authors also assign birds in northern Somalia to this species, but this is unconfirmed.

Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Density map from the occurrence records of GBIF (2006-10-01 – 2026-09-30), counted per 0.7° grid cell and per month and divided by all bird records in that same cell — so the number of birdwatchers does not shape the picture. Colour depth follows that share and fades out gradually, so the map does not follow national borders. Country outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).

How and when to look

Any visit to Wadi Ayhaft, the Homhil plateau or the Dixam plateau produces groups moving through the bushes; they are fairly tame and often seen together with Socotra Sunbirds.

Conservation status

Not yet assessed by IUCN as a separate species (BirdLife includes it in Abyssinian White-eye). Common on Socotra; its small range does make it vulnerable to overgrazing by goats, loss of woodland and the effects of cyclones and climate change.

Scientific name

Zosterops socotranus | Neumann, 1908

Neumann described the species in 1908 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Zosterops was introduced in 1827 by Vigors & Horsfield. Zosterops comes from the Greek zōstēr, 'belt, girdle', and ōps, 'eye' — for the white eye-ring shown by most white-eyes. socotranus refers to the island of Socotra. The specimen the first description was based on came from Dahamis, Socotra, Yemen.