Batis diops
Silhouette: Mathieu Pélissié · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Rwenzori batis (Batis diops) is a bird native to the Albertine Rift montane forests, where it inhabits altitudes of 1,340–3,300 m (4,400–10,830 ft). The Rwenzori batis is a small, active black and white Old World flycatcher. The upperparts are dark bluish black with a white stripe along the wing and a white loral spot. The underparts are mostly white except for a glossy bluish black breast band, a black chin spot and black thighs and grey axillaries. The tail is black with the feathers having white tips and white edges on the outer tail feathers. The sexes are similar except that males have yellow eyes and females have been reported sometimes to have orangey-red eyes. Juveniles are similar to adults but the plumage has a more rufous cast. The Rwenzori batis measures 11–12 cm (4.3–4.7 in) in length, and it weighs 8–15.5 g (0.28–0.55 oz).
The territorial call is a slow low-pitched whistle, which has been described as both ventriloqual and eerie. It is repeated with an interval of 2–4 seconds between each whistle. The Rwenzori batis occurs in the Albertine Rift from the Rwenzori Mountains in the north to Mount Kabobo in the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rwenzori Batis sighting in Virunga National Park on a given day, based on 84 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 34th most-seen of the 316 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Rwenzori Batis in Virunga National Park on a given day, against about 10% in February, April–May and July–August, the lowest months. That is one of Virunga National Park's driest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 250 mm in May.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rwenzori Batis sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Rwenzori Batis sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 30%), Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 30%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rwenzori Batis is recorded against all the birds logged in Virunga National Park (84 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
