Birda Logo
Features
Birda+
About
Species Guide
Challenges
Shop
loading...

Pale Batis

Batis soror

The Pale Batis, also known as the Mozambique Batis or East Coast Batis, is a diminutive avian species adorned in a palette of black, white, and grey. The male exhibits a striking black facial mask, elegantly framed by a slender white supercilium above a yellow eye, and a pale grey back dappled with subtle white spots. His underparts are a pristine white, boldly interrupted by a black breast band. The female, in contrast, boasts a pale rufous band across her breast and a matching spot upon her chin. Both sexes share the same black bill and legs, while the immature birds resemble the female but with a browner breast band and a buffy wash on the underparts. This species measures a compact 10.5–11.5 cm in length and tips the scales at a lightweight 8–13.1 g.

Identification Tips

When identifying the Pale Batis, look for the black mask and white supercilium on a grey head, the black or rufous breast band depending on the sex, and the black bill and legs. The bird's active behavior and distinctive coloration make it recognizable within its habitat.

Habitat

The Pale Batis is typically found in lowland miombo woodlands, thriving below 500 m in coastal woodlands where forest and dense scrub intermingle. It can also be encountered in mopane and acacia at the fringes of its range, and in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, it ascends to 1,500 m above sea level in tall Uapaca kirkiana stands, thickets of Philippia spp., and mountain acacia-dominated woodlands.

Distribution

This species graces the eastern African landscape, from coastal Kenya, including the Arabuko Sokoke National Park, south through eastern and southeastern Tanzania, the islands of Zanzibar and Mafia, to Mozambique as far south as the Save River, and inland to southeastern Malawi and the east-facing slopes of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.

Behaviour

The Pale Batis is known to forage by gleaning insects from leaves and branches, occasionally hovering to do so, and often participates in mixed foraging parties. Its social structure is typically seen in pairs or family groups, with males sometimes forming single-sex aggregations known as "parliaments" before breeding. The male performs an elaborate zigzag courtship display flight, accompanied by wing fripping, tail fanning, and rump feather fluffing, while both sexes vocalize their respective calls.

Song & Calls

The Pale Batis' territorial call is a plaintive, long, and piping 3-note "pook pook pook" repeated up to 12 times at a steady pace. The female contributes with excited "wik-wik" calls. Their vocal repertoire also includes typical batis sounds such as bill snaps, churrs, and whistles.

Breeding

The nest is a small, deep cup constructed from thin strips of Combretum bark and grass inflorescences, bound together with spider webs, usually placed in a branch fork at least 6 m above ground. The breeding season sees a clutch of 1–2 eggs laid between September and November. The female undertakes all incubation duties and initially feeds the young alone, with the male joining in as the chicks mature. Only the immediate vicinity of the nest is defended.

Similar Species

There are no similar species mentioned in the provided content.

Diet and Feeding

The Pale Batis gleans insects from foliage and branches, sometimes hovering to feed, and is known to join mixed-species foraging flocks.

Conservation status

The IUCN Red List classifies the Pale Batis as Least Concern, indicating that the species does not currently face a significant risk of extinction in the wild.

Pale Batis Sounds


Recorded by: © 
App logo
Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.

Pale Batis on Birda

Sightings
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Matthew Paton
27 Feb 2024 - 5:25am
Mozambique

More Wattle-eyes, Batises

A photo of a Cape Batis (Batis capensis) , male

Cape Batis

Batis capensis
Birda Logo

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes
Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.
Discover the joy of birding
Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.
Play your part in saving nature
Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.

Birda Blog

What Our Birders Say
Amylia S
Best app for any birding person!
I love this app!! I am so addicted to it when I saw it had 3 star review I was so sad! The app is awesome!! The best app for any birding person! ❤️
Robred 2
Fun way to add to your birdwatching experience
I enjoy watching birds in my backyard, but this app helped me really pay attention while on vacation this summer. It was fun to add new birds to my bird watching app.
Bryan C
Clean and easy to use
Really enjoying this app, it's clean and easy to use. I love the ease of being able to add those one-off birds without starting a whole checklist. I also like the social aspect, like the parts of my Facebook I like, without the ads and junk, just birds. Can't wait to see it become more populated.
Nick S
Work together with community
Been loving using this app to log my bird sightings and work together with community members to identify different birds. I've already learned a lot since I started about a month ago!
Emcil24
A Friendly Place
I love using the bird app, I have a pretty good knowledge of birds. But I do have some gaps in it, so it’s nice to have a safe space to check on a sighting to confirm the species. It’s really enjoyable and I love the badges you can collect. It’s like a real life Pokémon go.
SW H
Wonderful App
Birda is my go to app for keeping records of my bird sightings and sessions. It has fantastic information which is great at aiding identification. With all the updates that are coming in the new year, this app is something special.
Hip An
Fantastic
Really enjoying Birda where I live i have a lot of Red kites really hard to photograph but I can video are you planning some place on the app where us Birda can post vids🦉🦅
SuperOliviaGirl
Really great app
It’s easy to use and it’s fun to log the birds you notice on a walk or just in your garden. There’s a option to record the birds you see in a session which is really nice. Good excuse to stop for a while and just watch birds. I am also enjoying the information part where you can find out fact about birds from all over the world.
D3Nature
Great app for learning Birds
I’ve been using the app for a couple of months and love it....Someone said it’s like a real life Pokémon Go for birds. They’re not far off! It’s something that the family can do that gets you out and about. Well worth downloading no matter your age.
Chudbond
Love Birda
I love this app. It really encourages you to log your sightings and the community is friendly and helpful.
As featured in
Birda Logo
AboutPressAmbassadorsAffiliatesInfluencersCareersPrivacyTerms & Conditions
An app for birdwatchers
Connect with us
Copyright © 2024 Chirp Birding. All rights reserved.