Chirping with Kloof Conservancy – Chinspot Batis

THIS week, we feature one of the smaller birds that you will find in the Highway area – the Chinspot Batis. This is an endearing bird that is not shy of humans, but it is also quite secretive and difficult to spot, but if you are observant, you are likely to find it in your garden!

Also read: Chirping with Kloof Conservancy – Lemon Dove

Description

The Chinspot Batis is a small bird of approximately 12–13cm and a weight of 12g. The males and females have different colouration and are quite complex to describe. The males have blue-grey foreheads with a black ‘mask’ around the eyes. They have a distinctive black band on an otherwise white chest, and the top of their backs are white-spotted bueish-black. The females are similar, but the chest band and flanks are chestnut-coloured. Another distinctive feature is their orange eyes!
For the casual observer, they can be easily confused with the Cape Batis.

Distribution

The Chinspot Batis can be found from the Eastern Cape, through Kwazulu-Natal, to Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and the eastern parts of the North West Province.

Habitat

This species is a woodland species and can be found in most our forest edges as well as in well-wooded gardens. They avoid dense forests.

Feeding

The Chinspot Batis is insectivorous and will feed on beetles, flies, small beetles, fly larvae, spiders and grasshoppers. They feed mainly in the under-canopy of trees, plucking at insects on branches but also hawking them in the air.

Breeding

The nest is built by both adults and is cup-shaped, consisting mainly of shredded leaves bound together with spider web and camouflaged with lichen. Breeding occurs in spring and summer, when one to four eggs are incubated by the female for around 18 days. Incubation is done by the female who rarely leaves the nest other than for the occasional short search for food. Both parents take care of the chicks, who leave the nest at around 16–18 days old but stay with their parents for another 6–14 weeks.
They are somewhat territorial, and the male will defend an area of about 5ha around the nest from intruders.

Predators and threats

This species is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but their nesting areas are under threat where habitats are destroyed by housing developments.

Local information

Look in your garden to spot this bird or on the edges of the many riverine forests of the Highway Area. It is quite a common bird, but being small easily evades been seen.

Interesting facts

The Chinspot Batis is one species that enjoys the company of other small birds and can often be spotted during ‘bird parties’ when a mix of bird species gather with much noise to feed in close proximity to each other.

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