About the Margaret's Batis
Margaret's batis or Boulton's batis, is a species of small passerine bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae. It is found in south western central Africa.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
ID tip
Margaret's batis is a small, mainly black and white shrike-like bird with a black face mask and reddish eye, in a mainly dark grey head. They have white underparts with a broad black breast band in both sexes, with black wings which are marked in the male with a white wing stripe while the female has a rufous wing stripe. The tail is black with white outer tail feathers. Juveniles resemble the females but are duller and have brown eye. The bill and legs are black. They measure 11–12 cm (4.3–4.7 in) in length and weigh 11.5–15.5 g (0.41–0.55 oz). Voice: Margaret's batis is known to make various whistles and churring calls. The territorial call is a repeated, soft, thin "hoo-hoo-hoo-hooit-hooit-hooit" which varies in length. The female and male duet with a tweeting call.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
When to see it
Peak activity in March · a passage migrant species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Dark BatisBatis cryptaThe dark batis is about 10 cm (3.9 in) in length and weighs 10–15 g (0.35–0.53 oz).
Angola BatisBatis minullaThe Angola batis is a small pied songbird with a rather dumpy appearance and a restless nature.
Learn the Margaret's Batis for real
BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.
Play BeakBrainEvery photo and recording on this page is credited to its author under the licence shown. Spotted a problem with this page, or have a better photo? Contribute.