{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Speciesbox | name = Robust white-eye | image = Robust White-eye.jpg | status = EX | extinct = 1908 | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International. |year=2023 |title=''Zosterops strenuus'' |volume=2023 |article-number=e.T22714223A231049026 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T22714223A231049026.en |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> | genus = Zosterops | species = strenuus | authority = Gould, 1855 | synonyms = ''Nesozosterops strenua'' }}

The '''robust white-eye''' ('''''Zosterops strenuus'''''), also known as the '''Lord Howe white-eye''' or '''robust silvereye''' and locally as the "big grinnell", is an extinct species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It was endemic to the lowland forests of Lord Howe Island, east of Australia.

==Description== [[File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.110011 - Zosterops tenuirostris strenuus Gould, 1855 - Lord Howe White-eye - specimen - video.webm|left|thumbtime=0:11|upright|thumb|Turnaround video of a specimen, Naturalis Biodiversity Center]] It was a mainly green bird, around {{cvt|7.6|cm}} long, with a white belly and yellow throat, which separated it from other species of white-eye. [[File:Zosterops strenuus.jpg|thumb|upright|left|By Henrik Gronvold]] The robust white-eye built loosely constructed, cup-shaped nests out of palm fibre and dried grasses, which were sometimes found in shrubs overgrown with vines. This made the species vulnerable to predation by black rats (''Rattus rattus''), which were accidentally introduced in 1918 following the grounding of the steamship S.S. ''Makambo'' on the island. Although once common, the bird was extinct by 1923.

Despite its small size, the bird was known to islanders as "big grinnell", to differentiate it from the much smaller but related "little grinnell", or Lord Howe silvereye (''Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus''), a subspecies of the silvereye. This subspecies is still hanging on, but is threatened with extinction.

==References== {{Reflist}} *Day, David (1981), ''The Encyclopedia of Vanished Species'', London, Universal Books Ltd., pp109–110, {{ISBN|0-947889-30-2}}

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robust white-eye Category:Endemic birds of Australia Category:Extinct birds of Lord Howe Island robust white-eye Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

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