Long-billed white-eye

Long-billed white-eye
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Zosteropidae
Genus:	Rukia
Species:	R. longirostra
Binomial name
Rukia longirostra (Taka-Tsukasa & Yamashina, 1931)

The long-billed white-eye (Rukia longirostra), known as tiht in Pohnpeian, is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.

The long-billed white-eye seems quite distinct in both plumage, structure, and habits from the teardrop white-eye Rukia ruki– the type species of genus Rukia– and may deserve a change of genus, possibly to Zosterops like the olive-colored white-eye (Z.oleagineus, formerly Rukia oleaginea).

Ecology

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and plantations. It is considered near-threatened by habitat loss.

It has a curious nuthatch-like behavior of creeping along large tree limbs, and seems particularly specialized in using its long, slightly decurved bill to extract arthropods from the severed ends of branches.

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Rukia longirostra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016 e.T22714271A94409249. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22714271A94409249.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.