Ruwenzori batis

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Ruwenzori batis
Ruwenzori Batis RWD.jpg
specimen at Nairobi National Museum
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Platysteiridae
Genus: Batis
Species:B. diops
Binomial name
Batis diops
Jackson, 1905 [2]

The Ruwenzori batis (Batis diops) is a species of bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae. It is found in the Albertine Rift montane forests above 1,400 m in eastern central Africa.

Bird Warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrates with wings, feathers and beaks

Birds, also known as Aves, are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) ostrich. They rank as the world's most numerically-successful class of tetrapods, with approximately ten thousand living species, more than half of these being passerines, sometimes known as perching birds. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which evolved from forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in flightless birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species of birds. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming.

Wattle-eye family of birds

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.

Albertine Rift montane forests

The Albertine Rift montane forests ecoregion, of the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in the heart of Afromontane tropical central Africa.

Contents

Description

The Ruwenzori batis is a small, active black and white flycatcher-like bird. The upperparts are dark bluish black with a white stripe along the wing and a white loral spot. The underparts are mostly white except for a glossy bluish black breast band, a blacj chin spot and black thighs and grey axillaries. and the belly, . The tail is black with the feathers having white tips and white edges on the outer tail feathers The sexes are similar except that males have yellow eyes and females have been reported to sometimes have orangey red eyes. Juveniles are similar to adults but the plumage has a more rufous cast. [3] The Ruwenzori batis measures 11–12 cm in length, and it weighs 8–15·5 g. [4]

Voice

The territorial call is a slow, low piched whistle has been described as both ventriloqual and eerie. It is repeated with an interval of 2–4 seconds between each whistle. [3]

Distribution and habitat

Eastern central Africa in the Albertine Rift; in the Democratic Republic of Congo it is found from the Ruwenzori Mountains in the north to Mount Kabobo in the south, it is also found in western Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. [4]

Uganda republic in East Africa

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.

Rwanda country in Africa

Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a country in Central and East Africa and one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda is in the African Great Lakes region and is highly elevated; its geography is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year.

Burundi country in Africa

Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country amid the African Great Lakes region where East and Central Africa converge. The capital is Gitega, having moved from Bujumbura in December 2018. The southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.

The Ruwenzori batis occurs in lower elevation montane evergreen forest between 1340m and 3300m above sea level, it is commonest in thick bamboo forest or otherwise closed canopy forest on ridges, suboptimal habitats include mixed forest and scrub. [3]

Habits

The breeding biology and habits of the Ruwenzori batis are little known. It is a shy, active bird which is constantly moving but tends to keep hidden in the foliage. It normally forages in mid levels in undergrowth at 2-6m above the ground but also in lower canopy of tall trees. It is insectivorous, flycatching using short flights but most food is probably gleaned from the foliage and twigs. The male appears to regularly feed the incubating or brooding females, the nest and its contents have never been formally described. [3]

Taxonomy

The Ruwenzori batis and Margaret's batis probably belong to the superspecies that also contains Cape batis, Forest batis, dark batis and Woodward's batis. [4] The Ruwenzori batis appears to replace the Ituri batis at higher atltitudes. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Batis diops". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources . Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  2. ↑ "Batis diops Reichenow, 1903". Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (https://www.itis.gov). Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Harris, Tony; Franklin, Kim (2000). Shrikes and Bush-shrikes. Christopher Helm. pp. 320–321. ISBN   0-7136-3861-3.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ruwenzori Batis (Batis perkeo)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
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