Pygmy Batis

Batis perkeo

Other Names

  Pygmy Puff-back Flycatcher   Pririt pygmée   Däumlingsschnäpper         Batis pigmeo

World: Africa - Range confined to the NE from SE Sudan, Somalia and S Ethiopia through NE Uganda, N and E Kenya as far S as NE Tanzania.

Kenya: Dry country below 1200m. Absent from the Lake Victoria Basin and the highlands and also from the very arid reagions of the NE.

This is a small insectivorous bird which gleans its food from the surface of leaves although it will also take insects on the wing. The individual pictured above is a male, it can be distinguished from the female by the more orange eye colour and the black (rather than reddish-brown) breast band. It can be distinguished from the somewhat similar Chin-spot Batis by having a shorter tail, shorter supercilliary stripe (in the individual pictured this feature is almost absent) and orange tinged eye.