The pririt batis (Batis pririt) also known as the pririt puff-back flycatcher or pririt puffback, is a small passerine bird in the wattle-eye family. It is resident in Southern Africa and southwestern Angola.
| Pririt batis | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male B. p. affinis Damaraland, Namibia | |
| |
| Female in Northern Cape, South Africa | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Platysteiridae |
| Genus: | Batis |
| Species: | B. pririt
|
| Binomial name | |
| Batis pririt (Vieillot, 1818)
| |
It is a small stout insect-eating bird, found in dry broadleaf woodland and thorn scrub. The nest is a small neat cup low in a tree or bush.
The pririt batis is strikingly patterned. The adult male has a dark grey crown and back, black eye mask and white throat. It has a black rump and tail, and its wing are black with white edging to the flight feathers and a long white shoulder patch. The underparts are white with a broad black breast band and black speckles on the flanks. The female and juvenile plumages differ in that there is no black breast band, but the throat and breast are a warm buff colour.
The pririt batis hunts by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The song is typically a slow descending series of whistled notes: teuu, teuu, teuu, teuu.
References
edit- ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Batis pririt". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22707873A94140401. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22707873A94140401.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) ISBN 1-86872-721-1
External links
edit- Pririt batis - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.