Bias musicus
The Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher (Bias musicus) is a strikingly patterned passerine bird belonging to the family Platysteiridae, often referred to as wattle-eyes and batises. Measuring approximately 15-18 cm (6-7 inches) in length and weighing 15-25 grams, this species is immediately recognizable by its glossy black upperparts, head, and breast, sharply contrasting with its pristine white underparts and a prominent white wing band. A distinct feature is its large, bright yellow iris comp...
Found primarily in the mid-canopy and understory of dense lowland evergreen forests, forest edges, secondary growth, and riverine forests, typically at low to moderate elevations.
Strictly insectivorous, feeding primarily on a variety of flying insects such as moths, beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas, and flies, captured in aerial sallies or by gleaning.
The Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher is an active, often restless bird that primarily forages by perching conspicuously on exposed branches or twigs within the mid-canopy or understory. Its foraging technique is quintessential flycatching, involving agile aerial sallies to snatch flying insects ...
The Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher boasts an extensive and widespread distribution across sub-Saharan Africa. Its range spans from Sierra Leone and Guinea in West Africa, eastward through Central Africa to western Kenya and Tanzania, and southward into Angola, northern Namibia, Botswana, and n...
Least Concern
- Despite its common name, the Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher is not a true shrike (family Laniidae) or a true Old World flycatcher (family Muscicapidae), but belongs to the Platysteiridae, a family endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. - The specific epithet 'musicus' refers to its melodious and dis...