Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Monarchidae
Genus
Terpsiphone
Surprise Me
Previous Rufous-vented Paradise-Flycatcher
Next African Paradise-Flycatcher
- Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher
© Tony King
- Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher
- Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher
- Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher
- Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher
Listen

Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone batesi Scientific name definitions

Kees Moeliker
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2006

Sign in to see your badges

Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

18 cm (excluding male’s elongated central rectrices, which may project 1–10·5 cm beyond others); 16·5 g. Male nominate race has entire head, neck and upper mantle, and underparts blue-grey, rest of upperparts and lower belly, thighs and undertail-coverts bright deep orange-rufous; some white on lower belly; tail orange-rufous, rather short, central feathers project 1–3 cm beyond other rectrices; iris brown, narrow eyelid wattle cobalt-blue; bill cobalt-blue, tip pearly, mouth bright yellow; legs brown-black. Distinguished from e.g. T. rufocinerea by blue-grey (not black) head, no crest, and brighter, more orange-rufous upperparts, tail and undertail-coverts, shorter tail. Female is like male but less orange, more rufous, with central tail feathers shorter, bill less bright, eyelid wattle reduced and duller. Immature is like female but duller, upperparts browner; juvenile like immature but paler, unspotted, has head and underparts brown-grey, upperparts rufous-brown. Race bannermani differs from nominate in having whiter lower belly, much longer central tail feathers (projecting 3·5–10·5 cm).

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Sometimes considered conspecific with T. rufocinerea, but eco-ethological studies reveal that it is distinct; genetic relationship between the two unclear (1, 2), and further research needed. Race bannermani currently included in present species on firm morphological grounds, despite much longer central tail feathers; supporting molecular evidence needed. Has hybridized with T. rufiventer. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Terpsiphone batesi batesi Scientific name definitions

Terpsiphone batesi batesi
T. b. batesi

Distribution

S Cameroon and Gabon E to E DRCongo.
SUBSPECIES

Terpsiphone batesi bannermani Scientific name definitions

Terpsiphone batesi bannermani
T. b. bannermani

Distribution

Congo, SW DRCongo and N Angola.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Mainly primary forest but also secondary forest, including flooded forest, in lowlands, and to 1300 m in Cameroon. Prefers mature forest with unstratified understorey and with foliage evenly distributed up to 20 m. Does also occur in regenerating forest, particularly old second growth, disused cacao and coffee plantations, and riverine forest in cultivated areas; avoids dense liana-rich forest. Replaces T. viridis in virgin forest and the final stages of regenerating secondary forest.

Movement

Sedentary.

Diet and Foraging

Arthropods, mainly insects, including moths (Lepidoptera), grasshoppers (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), bees, wasps and ants (Hymenoptera), cockroaches (Blattodea), dragonflies (Odonata), neuropterans, dipterans, termites (Isoptera), also spiders; also small snails. Mean length of prey 21·1 mm in NE Gabon. In pairs or family parties; frequently joins mixed-species flocks, especially during non-breeding season. Forages in all vegetation layers, from human eye level to canopy and even in emergent trees, but mainly in understorey. Seasonal preference for different levels in NE Gabon, between upper understorey and lower canopy during long dry season and below 12 m during short rains. Foraging methods varied: include hawking in quick sallies or in hovering flight; hopping from branch to branch while in upright posture, and snatching prey from under leaves in short looping or hovering flight; flitting among leaves and twisting around to catch flushed insects; and foraging in horizontal posture, with wings partly open and drooped, tail more or less fanned and moved both sideways and up and down, and swooping on to dislodged prey. Foraging behaviour thus much as that of T. viridis, among leaves but not in dense clumps, among individual hanging lianas but not in dense tangles. In NE Gabon, used the separate tactics more or less equally when foraging solitarily, but when in flocks employed hawking in quick sallies or in hovering flight in more than 80% of observations. Regularly feeds on swarming ants and termites. Sometimes pirates other insectivorous bird species.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a cheerful “twee-twee-twee-twee-twee-twee-twee”, similar to that of T. rufiventer; higher-pitched and slightly faster than songs of T. rufocinerea and T. viridis. Calls harsh and rasping.

Breeding

Season Jan, Mar, Jun, Sept and Oct in Cameroon; all year but mainly Sept–Oct (beginning of rains) and Jan–Mar (short dry season) in Gabon; Oct–Dec in Angola; probably in all months in DRCongo (birds with active gonads in Jan, Mar, May, Jun, Sept, Dec). Monogamous, probably mates for life; territorial, defends territory all year. Nest built by both sexes, a loose-looking cup of dark green moss bound with spider web, lined with pieces of bark and blackish fibres, looser in structure and with more elongated conical shape than that of T. viridis (from which differs also in use of green moss); external diameter 63 mm and height 70 mm, internal diameter 49·6 mm and depth 29·6 mm; placed 1·5–20 m above ground (mean of 51 nests in NE Gabon 4·8 m) in fork near top of sapling or on branch of isolated small tree in understorey; mean size of territory 6·1 ha in NE Gabon. Clutch 1–3 eggs (mean of 23 clutches in NE Gabon 1·9), glossy, creamy to pinkish-white, with fine spots of salmon-red or red-brown and lilac-grey forming ring or cap at larger end, 19 × 14 mm; incubation by both sexes, only female at night, period 13 days; chicks brooded for first 3–4 days and fed by both parents, nestling period 10–11 days; after fledging, young fed for at least a month by both parents, and stay in parental territory almost until next breeding cycle. Breeding success in NE Gabon rather low: 23 nests with eggs yielded only 5 fledged young, several clutches accidentally destroyed by elephants moving through understorey. Adult survival good: several individuals ringed as adults were still present 5 years and 7 years later.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not assessed. Rare to common in entire range, although almost no quantitative data. Widespread in lowland rainforest of S Cameroon. Average density in NE Gabon 14 pairs/km². Occurrence in N half of PRCongo (area bounded by Gabon, Central African Republic and DRCongo) probable, but no precise data available.
Distribution of the Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Moeliker, K. (2020). Bates's Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone batesi), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.batpaf1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.

American Ornithological Society American Ornithilogical Society Armonia Bolivia Aves Argentinas Avibase Aves Uruguay Birds Caribbean Bird Count India Conservación de Islas Corbidi Fundación Ñankulafkén Instituto Humboldt Lynx Edicions Oikonos Oriental Bird Club Ornithological Society Of The Middle East The Caucasus And Central Asia RED DE OBSERVADORES DE AVES Y VIDA SILVESTRE DE CHILE Roberts Birds Save Brasil Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Union Venezolana De Ornitologos