Distribution

Found on the Northern Mariana Islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Aguiguan, as well as Guam, in the Southern Mariana Islands.

Birds of the subspecies saypani have been translocated to Sarigan and Guguan (39 Radley, P. M. (2012). Marianas Avifauna Conservation (MAC) project: a second and first translocation of Golden White-eyes (Cleptornis marchei) and Mariana Fruit Doves (Ptilinopus roseicapilla), respectively, from Saipan to Sarigan, and an assessment of Bridled White-eyes (Zosterops conspicillatus) on Sarigan, 1-8 May 2012. Division of Fish and Wildlife, Saipan, CNMI. Close , 40 BirdLife International 2024. Species factsheet: Saipan White-eye Zosterops saypani. https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/saipan-white-eye-zosterops-saypani/text. Close ).

Subfossils of Zosterops bones, all identified as Bridled White-eye, have been uncovered on Rota, Aguiguan, and Tinian (38 Steadman, D. W. (1999). The prehistory of vertebrates, especially birds, on Tinian, Aguiguan, and Rota, Northern Mariana Islands. Micronesica 31(2):319−345. Close ). The Bridled White-eye subspecies saypani has recently been introduced to Sarigan and Guguan.

The subspecies conspicillatus of Guam became extinct in 1984 (41 Wiles, G. J., J. Bart, R. E. Beck, and C. F. Aguon (2003). Impacts of the brown tree snake: patterns of decline and species persistence in Guam’s avifauna. Conservation Biology 17(5):1350–1360. Close ). In 2008–2009, the subspecies saypani, which is known historically from the Mariana Islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Aguiguan, was translocated from Saipan and Tinian to the more northerly Mariana Island of Sarigan, where it is now breeding successfully (39 Radley, P. M. (2012). Marianas Avifauna Conservation (MAC) project: a second and first translocation of Golden White-eyes (Cleptornis marchei) and Mariana Fruit Doves (Ptilinopus roseicapilla), respectively, from Saipan to Sarigan, and an assessment of Bridled White-eyes (Zosterops conspicillatus) on Sarigan, 1-8 May 2012. Division of Fish and Wildlife, Saipan, CNMI. Close ). In 2015–2016, it was also translocated to the Mariana Island of Guguan (40 BirdLife International 2024. Species factsheet: Saipan White-eye Zosterops saypani. https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/saipan-white-eye-zosterops-saypani/text. Close ).