Chestnut-flanked White-eye

Chestnut-flanked White-eye Zosterops erythropleurus was a commonly seen species on this tour with over a hundred records most of which were in the Doi Inthanon National Park. A flock of these birds was feeding in bushes in the gardens of Mr. Daeng’s where we stopped for lunch. This is the best of a series of photos of this bird which does not show the greenish forehead nor the chestnut flanks especially well. Other photos in the series do show these features although other parts of the bird are hidden behind leaves and they are not good enough to publish.

The photo does however show other key identification features including the black lores, a pronounced eye ring broken at the front and pale underparts with no hint of the yellow ventral stripe of an Oriental White-eye Z. palpebrosus, a species which was also commonly seen.

Chestnut-flanked White-eye is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is migratory, breeding in Manchuria and migrating to central China, Yunnan and northern South-east Asia in the winter. It is the most migratory species of white-eye. It breeds in poplar, alder and willow forests, thickets and groves, and winters in deciduous and evergreen forests, usually above 1000 m.

Reference: Wikipedia; HBW Alive