The pygmy batis (Batis perkeo ) is a very small insectivorous bird which finds its food foraging among leaves, it is a member of the wattle-eyes family, the Platysteiridae. It occurs in the dry savannahs of north-eastern Africa.
An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe pygmy batis, as its name suggests, is a tiny, rather dumpy but dapper black, white and grey bird with similarities to the flycatchers. The male has a bluish-grey head and back with a contrasting black face mask and short white supercilium above the yellow eye. The rump and lower back are spotted with white and the rump feathers are relatively long giving a fluffy appearance. It has black wings which have a broad white strip formed by the broad white edges to feathers of the median and greater coverts, and the inner secondaries and tertials. The tail is black but the outer tail feathers have white edges and tips. The underparts are white, broken with a narrow black breast band. The females are similar to the males but have a pale rufous-buff breast band and chin and the face mask, supercilium and wing stripe are buffy brown. The bill and legs are black. The pygmy batis has a body length of 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 in) and a weight of 5–9 g (0.18–0.32 oz).
The pygmy batis occurs in southern Ethiopia, extreme south eastern South Sudan, southern Somalia, eastern Uganda, inland Kenya and north eastern Tanzania.
The preferred habitat is scrub made up of Senegalia spp, Commiphora spp and other "thorn" species in arid and semi-arid lowlands with rainfall falling between 250 and 500 mm (9.8 and 19.7 in) per year. Also found in wooded and bushy grassland, but avoids riverine forest.
The pygmy batis is an active, arboreal bird which lives in pairs or small family groups. Its habits are considered to be likely to be similar to other savannah batises. They feed mainly within the foliage and glean most of their insect prey from leaves and twigs, with a small proportion taken on the wing. It will join other bird species in mixed foraging parties. The breeding biology is almost unknown but egg laying probably occurs in February and March.
