Batis mentonera

Identificazione

The chinspot batis is a rather stout bird 12–13 cm (4.7–5.1 in) in length. It has a black mask on its face, with a short white eyestripe, a grey cap and a white throat. The upperparts are grey with a prominent white wing stripe. The eyes are yellow while the legs and bill are black. The underparts are white with a black breast band in the males, the female has a chestnut breast band and a chestnut spot on the throat. Young birds are similar to females but the breast band and spot on the throat are tawny.

Tassonomia

Nome scientifico

Batis molitor

Autorità

(Küster, 1836)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Platysteiridi

Genere

Batis

Areale e habitat

It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[citation needed] The chinspot batis is found in Savanna woodland, mainly deciduous, including miombo, i.e. Brachystegia woodland, riverine thickets, bushveld and scrub. It can also be found in cultivated habitats such as orchards, farmland, gardens and parks. In the central African mountains it reaches 3,000 m (9,800 ft). Its habitat specificity is greater in the northern parts of its range where there is more competition from other batises.<p>The chinspot batis forms a superspecies with other species of woodland and forest batises, in southern Africa the representatives of this superspecies are the pririt batis, Woodwards's batis, pale batis and Cape batis. Woodwards and Cape batises replace the chinspot batis in forest while the pririt batis and pale batis replace it geographically in arid woodlands to the west (pririt) and humid coastal woodlands to the east (pale).<p>There are currently four recognised subspecies of chinspot batis.[citation needed]

Migrazione

Resident species

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione

stable