Species profile
About the bateleur
The bateleur takes its name from the French for tightrope-walker, after the way it tilts from wing to wing as it glides low and fast across the savanna. The tail is so short that the feet project beyond it in flight, and the silhouette is unmistakable.
Adults are dramatic: black with a chestnut back and tail, grey shoulders and a bare scarlet face and legs. A bateleur may cover several hundred kilometres in a day's foraging. Like the martial eagle it has been uplisted to Endangered, largely because of poisoning at carcasses.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Spends most of the day in low, fast, rocking flight scanning for carrion and prey. Roosts and nests in tall canopy trees.
Social life
Monogamous and long-lived pairs holding a large territory; both adults perform rolling, tumbling display flights.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
A tail so short the bird steers with its wings alone, and bare facial and leg skin that flushes bright red when it is excited.
