Malawi Batis
Batis dimorpha
A cute, dumpy, colorful flycatcher-like bird that flits around in the mid-canopy and understory of forest, forest edge, plantations, and gardens. Males have a broad black chest band, yellow-orange eye, white stripe through the top of the wing, and white throat. Females have an orange eye, buff-and-white stripe through the top of the wing, and rufous chin patch. The song is a series of 8-9 plaintive steady piping “peooop” notes, and calls include buzzing grating “ddrz-drrzt-drrr, ddt-ddzt-drzt-drr”. Female Dark Batis is distinguished by its darker (rich rufous rather than white and buff) wing stripe. Male Dark Batis is very similar, but has a slightly longer tail and broader black breast stripe. Also similar to Chinspot Batis, but has darker orange color to the eyes, and female Malawi Batis shows paler rufous on the throat and buff tinges to the wing stripe.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Batis dimorpha
- Authority
- (Shelley, 1893)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Platysteiridae
- Genus
- Batis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Phalacrocorax punctatus
A slim, medium-sized, gray-blue marine shag with yellow-orange feet and a long, slender bill. Breeding plumage is elegant with bright green facial skin, blue eye-rings, and two curved thick white stripes that extend from each eye down to the side of the neck. Non-breeding plumage is duller with crests absent, diminished but still visible neck stripe, and yellowish facial skin. Immatures are paler and browner, lacking head or neck markings. Endemic to New Zealand, where it is mainly found in the coastal waters around the South Island and parts of the North Island. Distinguished from Pitt Island Shag by neck stripe and by the lack of a purple patch in front of the eye. Other similar shags that overlap have pink feet, not yellow.
Japanese Wagtail
Motacilla grandis
Large, boldly patterned, long-tailed songbird of waterside areas, particularly fast-flowing streams but also rivers, pools, inland lakes, and coastal areas. Adult male velveteen black with white belly, wings, throat, brow, and outer tail feathers. Adult female similar but grayish black above. Juvenile similar, with soft, pale gray upperparts; juvenile of Japanese subspecies of White Wagtail similar but shows white arc behind eye. Calls distinctively buzzy.
Yungas Tody-Tyrant
Hemitriccus spodiops
Small, plain flycatcher found in humid forest along the east slope of the Andes in Bolivia, barely reaching over the border into southeastern Peru. It has olive upperparts and pale yellowish underparts, and may show very faint streaking on the throat and breast. Pale eye and voice help separate it from Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant, which is usually found at lower elevations. Typical song is a downslurred, rasping trill.
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