The Cape Batis(Afrikaans name, Kaapse Bosbontrokkie)is a beautiful chestnut coloured bird of the flycatcher family. The male has the black breast band and golden eyes while the female has a narrower chestnut breast band and red eyes.
They are skittish little birds always on the move in the trees. We have seen them at Little Stream in Constantia and at the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens.
2 Comments
Alan Mountain
24 June 2015Hi Pat I love your photo above of a C Batis in the canopy at Kirstenbosch and I am a great admirer of your work. I am a retired AV producer and I am currently working on a pro bono DVD on the birds of Kirstenbosch which will be sold in the bookshop at KB to raise funds for the KB Botanical Society. In 2010 I made a DVD on the botany of KB which raised R126 000 for KB. I hope to do something similar with this production. I have had great problems in getting a good photo of a C Batis in the canopy and hence my request for permission to use your appropriate and excellent close up of the Batis above. With the advent of the Boomslang and its construction noise and disturbance and now its constant usage by visitors, the whole arboretum has become a no -go area for these discrete and sensitive little birds. I have scoured the forests on the lower slopes of T Mountain and the riverine forests and I have not been able to get a decent image which I can usage. Hence my request to you. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Alan
admin
27 October 2015Hi Alan, Thank you for stopping by our blog. Please have a look at these photos by Kevin Shields on the Kirstenbosch Photography FB page, they are really great pics and I think would suit your purpose exactly. Speak to him. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207522755525141&set=pcb.881428285268062&type=3&theater and here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207522755485140&set=pcb.881428285268062&type=3&theater Regards
Pat