Eastern Black-headed Batis

About the Eastern Black-headed Batis

The eastern black-headed batis (Batis minor) is a passerine bird in the family Platysteiridae from eastern Africa. It was formerly treated as conspecific with the western black-headed batis. The eastern black-headed batis was described by the German ornithologist Carlo von Erlanger in 1901 who considered the taxon as a subspecies of the grey-headed batis (Batis orientalis) and introduced the trinomial name Batis orientalis minor.

Two subspecies are recognised: B. m. minor Erlanger, 1901 – southern Somalia B. m. suahelica Neumann, 1907 – southeastern Kenya and eastern Tanzania The eastern black-headed batis is 10 cm (3.9 in) in length and weighs 9.3–13.8 g (0.33–0.49 oz). It is a small, stocky, rather restless, flycatcher like bird with a white, black and grey plumage. The forehead, crown and nape are blackish grey with a white supercilium and loral spot, the mask is glossy bluish black and there is a white spot on the nape. The mantle and back are dark grey with a paler rump, females have a greyer mantle. The underparts are white with a glossy black breast band, which is dark reddish brown in the females. The tail is black with white outer tail feathers... Wikipedia →