The Ituri batis or Chapin's batis (''Batis ituriensis'') is a species of bird in the wattle-eye family,

Platysteiridae Platysteiridae is a family of small, stout passerine birds of the African tropics. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae. These ...

which is found in the humid forests of eastern central Africa.

Description

The Ituri batis is a very small black and white bird, like a small

shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...

or old world flycatcher which is white below with a broad black breast band, a black head with a conspicuous white

loral Loral may refer to: * Loral Corporation, contractor founded in 1948 in New York by William Lorenz and Leon Alpert as Loral Electronics Corporation * Loral Space & Communications, satellite communications company * Loral GZ-22, a non-rigid airship * ...

spot in front of a bright yellow eye. Black on the back and wings with a white strip on the wings and white outer tail feathers on an otherwise black tail. The female is similar to the male but has a thin white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

. Young birds are buffer above and greyer below. The Ituri batis has a body length of .

Distribution and habitat

The Ituri batis occurs in the eastern

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...

in Ituri and Itombwe in the north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where it is uncommon and in the

Budongo Forest The Budongo Forest in Uganda is northwest of the capital city Kampala on the way to Murchison Falls National Park, and is located on the escarpment northeast of Lake Albert. It is known for its former abundance of East African mahogany trees as ...

in western Uganda where it is common. The Ituri batis is found in lowland forest, between . It prefers degraded forest such as secondary forest, and cultivated areas with scattered tall trees, such as plantations, and avoiding primary rainforest.

Habits

Little known but expected to be territorial and rather solitary like other batises, although groups of six birds have been recorded. A restless and active bird which forages high within the canopies of trees. The breeding biology is unknown except that, males have been recorded as feeding the female in March in Uganda, nestlings have been recorded in June and there is indirect evidence of breeding from February to August.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1308654

Ituri batis The Ituri batis or Chapin's batis (''Batis ituriensis'') is a species of bird in the wattle-eye family, Platysteiridae which is found in the humid forests of eastern central Africa. Description The Ituri batis is a very small black and white bir ...

Birds of Central Africa Birds described in 1921 Taxa named by James Chapin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot