| Angola batis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Platysteiridae |
| Genus: | Batis |
| Species: | B. minulla |
| Binomial name | |
| Batis minulla (Barboza du Bocage, 1874) | |
The Angola batis (Batis minulla) is a species of bird in the family Platysteiridae. It is found in western central Africa.
The Angola batis is a small pied songbird with a rather dumpy appearance and a restless nature. The adult males have a bluish grey forehead and crown with a small white spot on the lores and a glossy black mask across the eyes, extending on to the nape and down the sides of the neck with a white spot on the nape. It has a grey mantle, blackish scapulars with the back, rump and uppertail covers being blackish grey with white spots. The wings have black flight feathers with narrow white edges. There is a white wing stripe. The trail is black with white outer tail feathers. The underparts are white except for a black band across the breast and the greyish undertail coverts. The eyes are bright yellow while the bill and legs are black. The female is similar to the male but her breast band is chestnut rather than black. [2] They are about 10 cm (3.9 in) long and weigh 10.4 g (0.37 oz). [3]
The calls of the Angola batis are little known, the territorial call is a series of high-pitched notes, "zee-zee-zee-zee-zee", which has been likened to a squeaky bicycle pump. [2]
The presence of the Angola batis in south eastern Gabon is yet to be confirmed but the species occurs in the southern Congo through western Democratic Republic of Congo into northern Angola south to the Quiçama National Park, 70 km (43 mi) from Luanda. [2]
The habits of the Angola batis are little known, it feeds on insects which are often caught in the air by sallying from a perch, a behaviour called "flycatching". The appear to be rather solitary, like other batises, being recorded mainly as single or in pairs. [2] The cup shaped nest is built by both sexes from strips of bark and spider webs and is placed in the fork of a small tree at around head height. The only recorded clutches have consisted of two eggs. Breeding behaviour has been observed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July. [3]
The Angola batis occurs in secondary and riverine gallery forest, thick woodland dominated by Croton spp as well as adjacent bush, tickets and the ecotone between forest and savannah. Occasionally recorded in dry woodland, especially in the southern part of its range, as well as coffee plantations. [2]
Platysteiridae is a family of small, stout passerine birds of the African tropics. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. They hunt by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The nest is a small, neat cup, placed low in a tree or bush.
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Margaret's batis or Boulton's batis, is a species of small passerine bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae. It is found in south western central Africa.
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The Senegal batis is a species of small passerine bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae. It occurs in western Africa where it is found in dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It was originally given the binomial name Muscicapa senegalensis by Carl Linnaeus in 1766.
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The little spotted woodpecker or green-backed woodpecker, is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is native to large parts of tropical central Africa. It has an extensive range and is an uncommon species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The dark batis is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Batis in the wattle-eye family, Platysteiridae. It is found in highland forest in south-west Tanzania, northern Malawi, and northern Mozambique. These birds were formerly thought to be forest batises but in 2006 were described as a new species based on differences in morphology and mitochondrial DNA from those birds in northern Tanzania and Kenya.
The rufous-bellied helmetshrike or Gabon helmetshrike is a passerine bird belonging to the Vanga family, Vangidae. It inhabits tropical forest in Central Africa. It is sometimes included within the chestnut-bellied helmetshrike of West Africa.
