Cape Batis (Batis capensis)

Cover image: Cape Batis by Gregg Darling– St. Francis Bay, Eastern Cape –  BirdPix No. 57888

Batises, Wattle-eyes and Shrike-flycatchers make up the family PLATYSTEIRIDAE. They are small, uniquely African, flycatcher-like birds, but are most closely related to Bushshrikes and Helmetshrikes. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae.

Identification

The Cape Batis is is a richly coloured species. They are sexually dimorphic, differing in plumage colouration.

Adult males have a grey forehead, crown, and nape. A broad black face mask extends from the lores, and around the eyes to the nape. The mantle, scapulars, back and rump are brownish-grey. Males have a very broad black breast-band and the chin, throat and sides of the neck are pure white. The undersides from the lower breast to the vent are white with conspicuous chestnut flanks. The tail is black and the outermost tail feathers have white outer tips. The folded wings are black with a distinct chestnut wingbar (diagnostic).

Females resemble males but lack the broad black breast-band, instead having a narrow chestnut breast-band and a diffuse brown to chestnut throat patch. Females also have a narrow, white supercilium that reaches from the lores to above the eye. The eyes are reddish.

In both sexes the bill, legs and feet are black.

Juveniles are duller than the adults and have a weakly defined face mask and buff spotting on the upperparts.

The lack of a white wing bar distinguishes it from all other batises in the region except for the female Woodward’s Batis (Batis fratum). The latter differs from the female Cape Batis in having an indistinct, washed out throat spot and paler breast markings. The female Woodward’s Batis also shows a more prominent white supercilium that extends to the nape (not ending above eye). 

Status and Distribution

The Cape Batis is a Locally common resident. It occurs from Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi down to South Africa.

In southern Africa it occurs in south-western Zimbabwe, and with an isolated population in the eastern Zimbabwe highlands and adjacent Mozambique. It is distributed more continuously in South Africa from the north-eastern Limpopo Province and eastern Mpumalanga, south through western Swaziland and most of KwaZulu-Natal. Continuing along the coastal plain to the Western Cape, and north to about Vanrhynsdorp. There are also scattered records from south-western Limpopo, the eastern Free State and the edge of the Karoo in the Eastern and Western Cape.

The Cape Batis is not threatened. Its presence in fairly small and often isolated forest patches indicates that it is less at risk than many other forest species.

Habitat

The Cape Batis is generally considered to be a bird of evergreen forests, however it is not restricted to forest habitat. It is most numerous in Afromontane and lowland evergreen forest, preferring areas with tangled undergrowth. This includes small, relict and isolated forest patches.

The Cape Batis also inhabits closed woodlands, valley bushveld, secondary forest, plantations, orchards and gardens. In the drier parts of its range, along the southern fringes of the Karoo, it may be found in dense succulent scrub and fairly open Vachellia (Acacia) patches along rivers. Alien vegetation is acceptable provided that it is dense and contains weeds which sustain insect populations.

Behaviour

The Cape Batis is most often found in pairs, or occasionally in groups of up to 9 birds and is seldom seen solitarily. Hops about on branches, and makes short, buoyant flights between bushes. When alarmed, flies with short bursts of whirring wing-beats but is usually inquisitive and rather confiding.

The Cape Batis is mostly resident. Populations at higher altitudes undertake some altitudinal movements to lower-lying areas in winter (May to Sept). Some east to west movement is also suspected in the Western Cape.

Cape Batis pairs forage together, moving through the lower and mid-strata of forest or woodland, gleaning prey from leaves and bark and hawking flying insects in the air or from vegetation. Prey is seized with an audible bill snap. Pairs regularly join mixed-species foraging flocks.

The diet consists largely of invertebrates including beetles and their larvae, caterpillars, flies, moths and also spiders.

The Cape Batis is a monogamous breeder. The occasional presence of a second female in a breeding territory suggests they may sometimes be facultative cooperative breeders. Pair bonds are likely permanent as they remain together throughout the year. The Cape Batis is strongly territorial and territories are defended by both sexes.

The nest is a small, neat, thick-walled, cup, with bulging sides. It is built from dry, fibrous plant material and bound with spider web. The outer walls are often decorated with green moss, or various lichens, and the cup is lined with finer plant material or hair. Towards the end of construction the female sits in the nest and turns around slowly to shape it.

The completed nest is attached to a branch with spider web. The nest is built by both sexes, or on occasion, by the female only. The nest is placed on a sturdy horizontal branch or in a fork, usually around 4 m above the ground, sometimes also in a small shrub in forest undergrowth. It is usually placed in an area of low light and is not normally hidden among foliage.

Eggs are laid mainly from October to December across southern Africa, although egg laying peaks a month earlier in the south Western Cape. Between 1 and 3 (usually 2) eggs are laid per clutch. The eggs are pinkish-white with purplish-grey, reddish-brown, or pale green blotches and spots. Incubation begins once the full clutch has been laid and lasts for a period of 17 to 21 days. Only the female incubates the eggs but she is fed on the nest by the male.

The newly hatched young are altricial and are born blind, naked and feeble, but are well feathered within 13 days of hatching. The nestling period is fairly brief, lasting around 16 days. The nestlings are fed by the female on food brought by the male, who also feeds her, on and off the nest, throughout the nestling period. The Cape Batis will re-lay a clutch if it has been lost.

Cape Batis broods are often parasitised by Klaas’s Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas).

Further Resources

Species text adapted from the first Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1), 1997.

The use of photographs by Dieter Oschadleus, Gerald Wingate, Gregg Darling, J.K. Boyce, Jorrie Jordaan, Josu Meléndez, Maans Booysen and Zenobia van Dyk is acknowledged.

Virtual Museum (BirdPix > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name).

Other common names: Kaapse bosbontrokkie (Afrikaans); uDokotela, umNqube (Zulu); Ingedle, Unongedle (Xhosa); Pririt du Cap (French); Bruinflank-vliegenvanger (Dutch); Kapschnäpper (German); Batis do Cabo (Portuguese)

Recommended citation format: Tippett RM 2024. Cape Batis Batis capensis. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at https://thebdi.org/2024/09/18/cape-batis-batis-capensis/

List of bird species in this format is available here.

Bird identification, birding