The Indian White-eye is a small bird with a clear white ring around each eye. It forages in small groups among trees for insects, nectar and fruit.
It has a white ring around the eye, yellowish-olive upperparts and a whitish-gray belly.
The Oriental White-eye occurs in Sri Lanka, where it lives alongside the island’s endemic Ceylon White-eye. A 2017 study compared their physical traits and about 2,000 base pairs from two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene. Researchers sampled 70 birds in Sri Lanka and 10 at two sites in India. Both body measurements and genetic analyses distinguished the two species.
Sri Lankan Oriental White-eyes grouped with the Western Ghats subspecies of India. The Ceylon White-eye occupied a separate, much older branch. The study estimated that the Sri Lankan Oriental White-eye lineage separated about 0.19 million years ago, while the Ceylon White-eye lineage separated about 1.79 million years ago. The authors concluded that the two species reached the island from different ancestral lineages.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Sri Lankan Oriental White-eyes grouped with a Western Ghats subspecies. The endemic Ceylon White-eye belonged to a separate, older lineage, supporting independent arrivals on the island.