Scientific name: Batis capensis
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The Cape batis is strikingly patterned. The adult male has a grey crown, black eye mask and white throat. Its back is brown, with a black rump and tail and rufous wings. The underparts are white with a broad black breast band and rufous flanks. The female and juvenile plumages differ in that the breast band is narrower and rufous, not black, and there is a small rufous patch on the throat. Their rufous wings and flanks distinguish them from other Batis species in the region.
Both the male and the female will aggressively defend their territory. When larger birds of prey, animals or humans approach, the bird will often perch conspicuously near the intruder and angrily protest audibly. It eats a variety of insect prey, doing most of its foraging in the lower branches of trees or bushes, gleaning prey from leaves or bark.
Here it is locally common in eastern Zimbabwe bordering on Mozambique, south-central Zimbabwe, Limpopo Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. Highly adaptable, it occupies a wide range of habitats, such as Afromontane and Evergreen forest, closed woodland, valley bushveld, Acacia woodland along watercourses, plantations, orchards and gardens.
