- Batis capensis
Includes Malawi Batis and Reichenow's Batis
Identification
Also called Cape Puffbacks, Cape Batises have large heads relative to their small bodies. They weigh 5.1 ounces (13 grams) and are 6 inches (15 centimeters) long. They have short tails, round wings, and orange eyes. Males have dark blue-gray backs and tails, black heads, white throats and bellies edged in reddish brown, and a black breast band. Females have brown heads, a brownish wash over the breast, and no breast band.
Distribution
Southern Africa.
Taxonomy
Batis capensis has seven subspecies, variation being mainly in size (northern races larger) and shades of grey and rufous plumage:1,2
- B. c. capensis
- Southern and south-eastern South Africa
- B. c. hollidayi
- Eastern South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland
- B. c. kennedyi
- Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe and adjascent Mozambique highlands
- B. c. erythrophthalma
- South-central plateau of Zimbabwe
- B. c. dimorpha
- Mountains of southern Malawi and adjacent Mozambique
- B. c. sola
- Northern Malawi
- B. c. reichenowi
- South-eastern Tanzania
Sibley & Monroe6 recognised the Malawi Batis (B. c. dimorpha and B. c. sola) and Reichenow's Batis (B. c. reichenowi) as separate species. These splits from the Cape Batis have, however, not been recognised by Clements1 or Howard & Moore3. Recent genetic evidence from a study of the forest Batis species2,5 indictates that birds from Malawi are closely related to South African birds, but the two populations are sufficiently different to recognise them as separate species. However, birds from Zimbabwe and Mozambique were not included in this study.
Habitat
The Cape Batis makes his home in forests, scrub, and planted gardens in southern Africa. Their range is from sea level to 7,050 feet (2,150 meters).
Diet
Like other flycatchers, Cape Batises eat insects and actively seek them throughout the forest canopy by flushing, frightening, them from their places of cover, hiding. The birds then capture their prey as it flies.
Reproduction
This species mates from September to December, building a small cup-shaped nest of dry grasses, held together with spider webs. The nest is built low in thick brush in the fork of a branch and holds one to three eggs. The female incubates, sits on and warms, the eggs for seventeen to twenty-one days. Mating pairs stay together for life.
References
- Clements, JF. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019
- Feldsa J, RCK Bowie and J Kiure. 2006. The Forest Batis, Batis mixta is two species: description of a new, narrowly distributed Batis species in the Eastern Arc biodiversity hotspot. Journal of Ornithology 147, 578-590.
- Dickinson, EC, ed. 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd ed., with updates to December 2007 (Corrigenda 7). Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691117010
- Gill, F and M Wright. 2008. Birds of the World: Recommended English Names. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, USA. 2006. ISBN 9780691128276. Update (2008) downloaded from http://worldbirdnames.org/names.html.
- Percy Fitzpatrick Institute. 2006. A new Batis in East Africa. Africa Birds and Birding Vol. 11, Part 6, p26. (Avilable at http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/pdf/fitzdj06.pdf)
- Sibley, CG and BL Monroe. 1996. Birds of the World, on diskette, Windows version 2.0. Charles G. Sibley, Santa Rosa, CA, USA.
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Cape Batis. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Cape_Batis
