This species is very similar to, and often mistaken for, the common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. It most readily differs by its reddish-brown seed bases, unlike the more olive colored seeds of T. officinale. The red-seeded dandelion can also be identified by its leaves, which have consistently triangular lobes throughout, whereas T. officinale tends to have erratic lobing with minimal or no triangular form. The leaves of T. erythrospermum thus bear a closer resemblance to the basal leaves of sow thistles (Sonchus oleraceus).


Taraxacum officinale, the dandelion or common dandelion, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the dandelion genus in the family Asteraceae (syn. Compositae). The common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn into round balls of many silver-tufted fruits that disperse in the wind. These balls are usually called "clocks" in both British and American English. The name "blowball" is also used.
The common dandelion grows in temperate regions of the world in areas with moist soils. It is most often considered a weed, especially in lawns and along roadsides, but the leaves, flowers, and roots are sometimes used in herbal medicine and as food.


Taraxacum officinale grows from (generally unbranched) taproots and produces several hollow, leafless flower stems that are typically 5–40 centimetres (2–15+3⁄4 inches) tall, but sometimes up to 70 cm (28 in) tall. The stems can be tinted purplish, they are upright or lax, and produce flower heads that are held as tall or taller than the foliage. The foliage may be upright-growing or horizontally spreading; the leaves have petioles that are either unwinged or narrowly winged. The stems can be glabrous or sparsely covered with short hairs. Plants have milky latex and the leaves are all basal; each flowering stem lacks bracts and has one single flower head. The yellow flower heads lack receptacle bracts and all the flowers, which are called florets, are ligulate and bisexual. In many lineages, fruits are mostly produced by apomixis, notwithstanding the flowers are visited by many types of insects.
The leaves are 5–45 cm (2–17+3⁄4 in) long and 1–10 cm (1⁄2–4 in) wide, and are oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate in shape, with the bases gradually narrowing to the petiole. The leaf margins are typically shallowly lobed to deeply lobed and often lacerate or toothed with sharp or dull teeth.
The calyculi (the cuplike bracts that hold the florets) are composed of 12 to 18 segments: each segment is reflexed and sometimes glaucous. The lanceolate shaped bractlets are in two series, with the apices acuminate in shape. The 14–25 millimetres (1⁄2–1 in) wide involucres are green to dark green or brownish-green, with the tips dark gray or purplish. The florets number 40 to over 100 per head, having corollas that are yellow or orange-yellow in color.
The fruits, called cypselae, range in color from olive-green or olive-brown to straw-colored to grayish, they are oblanceoloid in shape and 2–3 mm (1⁄16–1⁄8 in) long with slender beaks. The fruits have 4 to 12 ribs that have sharp edges. The silky pappi, which form the parachutes, are white to silver-white in color and around 6 mm wide. Plants typically have 24 or 40 pairs of chromosomes, while some have 16 or 32 pairs.


Carl Linnaeus named the species Leontodon taraxacum in 1753. The current genus name Taraxacum derives possibly from the Arabic Tharakhchakon, or from the Greek Tarraxos. The specific name officinalis refers to its value as a medicinal herb, and is derived from the word opificina, later officina, meaning a workshop or pharmacy.
The taxonomy of the genus Taraxacum is complicated by apomictic and polyploid lineages, and the taxonomy and nomenclatural situation of Taraxacum officinale is not yet fully resolved. The taxonomy of this genus has been complicated by the recognition of numerous species, subspecies and microspecies. For example, Rothmaler's flora of Germany recognizes roughly 70 microspecies.
T. officinale has a fossil record that goes back to glacial and interglacial times in Europe.


The plants introduced to North America are triploids that reproduce by obligate gametophytic apomixis Some authorities recognize three subspecies of Taraxacum officinale, including:
Taraxacum officinale subsp. ceratophorum (Ledeb.) Schinz ex Thellung which is commonly called common dandelion, fleshy dandelion, horned dandelion or rough dandelion. It is native to Canada and the western U.S. Some sources list it as a species, Taraxacum ceratophorum.
Taraxacum officinale subsp. officinale, which is commonly called common dandelion or wandering dandelion.
Taraxacum officinale subsp. vulgare (Lam.) Schinz & R. Keller, which is commonly called common dandelion.
Two of them have been introduced and established in Alaska and the third (subsp. ceratophorum) is native there.


Taraxacum officinale L. (dandelion) is a vigorous weed in Europe with diploid sexual populations in the southern regions and partially overlapping populations of diploid sexuals and triploid or tetraploid apomicts in the central and northern regions.
These European dandelions can be divided into two groups. The first group reproduces sexually, as do most seed plants. This group consists of dandelions that have a diploid set of chromosomes, and are sexually self-incompatible. Sexual reproduction involves a reduction of the somatic chromosome number by meiosis followed by a restoration of the somatic chromosome number by fertilization. Diploid dandelions have eight pairs of chromosomes, and meiosis is regular with normal pairing of homologous chromosomes at the metaphase I stage of meiosis.
The second group consists of polyploid (mostly triploid) apomicts, meaning that both a viable embryo as well as a functional endosperm is formed without prior fertilization. In contrast to the sexual diploids, the pairing of chromosomes at metaphase I in triploid apomicts is strongly reduced. However pairing is still sufficient to allow some recombination between homologous chromosomes.


Taraxacum is derived from the Arabic word tarakhshagog (or tarakhshaqūn) for a bitter herb. It may be related to the Greek word ταρασσω (tarasso) meaning to disturb.
The Latin specific epithet officinale refers to the Latin word for 'medicinal' or 'of the apothecaries'.
T. officinale has many English common names (some of which are no longer in use), including blowball, lion's-tooth, cankerwort, milk-witch, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball; other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.
The common name dandelion comes from the French dent de lion, or "lion's tooth", in reference to the plant's jagged-edged leaves.


Taraxacum officinale is native to Europe and Asia, and was originally imported to America as a food crop. It is now naturalized throughout North America, southern Africa, South America, New Zealand, Australia, and India. It occurs in all 50 states of the US and most Canadian provinces.
The plant grows in temperate regions of the world in lawns, on roadsides, disturbed banks, shores of waterways, and other areas with moist soils.


T. officinale's diuretic properties have been well described, with the leaves of this plant having been used for this purpose in traditional Chinese medicine for approximately 2,000 years, with other regions of the world using the plant in the same way; in French, a common name for T. officinale is pissenlit, 'a colorful description of its diuretic activity.' A study conducted in 2009 noted 'promising' results regarding these diuretic properties, but that further studies would need to be conducted into the plant's efficacy.


This is a fleshy, taprooted perennial which often grows in clay soil. It has a wide rosette of long, alternate, feather-shaped or oval leaves which sometimes have wavy edges.
The flowers grow atop thin erect stems and are usually yellow and occasionally white, or yellow with white spots near the bases of the four spoon-shaped petals. The stamens are short compared to Camissonia.


Among areas of occurrence are the North Coast Range of California up to elevations of 1600 feet, including Sonoma and Marin County, extending south to San Luis Obispo County.


The red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus), also known as the orange-flanked bush-robin, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It, and related species, are often called chats.


It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in northern Asia and northeastern Europe, from Finland east across Siberia to Kamchatka and south to Japan. It winters mainly in southeastern Asia, in the Indian Subcontinent, the Himalayas, Taiwan, and northern Indochina. The breeding range is slowly expanding westwards through Finland (where up to 500 pairs now breed), and it is a rare but increasing vagrant to western Europe, mainly to Great Britain. There have also been a few records in westernmost North America, mostly in western Alaska, but one on San Clemente Island off the southern California coast.


At 13–14 cm long and 10–18 g weight, the red-flanked bluetail is similar in size and weight to the common redstart and slightly smaller (particularly with a slimmer build) than the European robin. As the name implies, both sexes have a blue tail and rump, and orange-red flanks; they also have a white throat and greyish-white underparts, and a small, thin black bill and slender black legs. The adult male additionally has dark blue upperparts, while females and immature males are plain brown above apart from the blue rump and tail, and have a dusky breast. In behaviour, it is similar to a common redstart, frequently flicking its tail in the same manner, and regularly flying from a perch to catch insects in the air or on the ground. The male sings its melancholy trill from treetops. Its call is a typical chat "tacc" noise. The nest is built on or near the ground, with 3–5 eggs which are incubated by the female.


The genus name Tarsiger is from Ancient Greek tarsos, "flat of the foot" and Latin gerere, "to carry". The specific  cyanurus is also derived from Greek, the roots being kuanos, "dark-blue", and oura, "tail".
In the past generally treated as comprising two subspecies, T. c. cyanurus breeding in northern Asia and T. c. rufilatus breeding in the Himalaya, it is now increasingly being treated as monotypic, with T. c. rufilatus split off as a distinct species, Himalayan bluetail T. rufilatus. The species has also been known by a variety of English and scientific names in the ornithological literature. The table below details the treatments adopted by some major works, by publication date (newest first):


Taxodium mucronatum, commonly known as Montezuma bald cypress, Montezuma cypress, or ahuehuete, is a species of Taxodium that is native to Mexico and Guatemala.  Ahuehuete is derived from the Nahuatl name for the tree, āhuēhuētl, which means "upright drum in water" or "old man of the water."


It is a large evergreen or semi-evergreen tree growing to 40 m (130 ft) tall and with a trunk of 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) diameter (occasionally much more; see below). The leaves are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) broad. The cones are ovoid, 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) broad.
Unlike bald cypress and pond cypress, Montezuma cypress rarely produces cypress knees from the roots. Trees from the Mexican highlands achieve a notable stoutness.
One specimen, the Árbol del Tule in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the stoutest tree in the world with a diameter of 11.42 m (37.5 ft). Several other specimens from 3–6 m (9.8–19.7 ft) diameter are known. The second stoutest tree in the world is the Big Baobab, an African baobab.


Montezuma cypress is primarily a riparian tree, growing along upland riversides, but can also be found next to springs and marshes. It occurs from 300 to 2,500 m (980 to 8,200 ft), in Mexico mainly in highlands at 1,600–2,300 m (5,200–7,500 ft) in altitude. T. mucronatum is very drought-tolerant and fast-growing and favors climates that are rainy throughout the year or at least with high summer rainfall.
Taxodium mucronatum is native to much of Mexico as far south as the highlands of southern Mexico. Two disjunct populations exist in the United States.  One is in the Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas, while the other is in southern New Mexico, near Las Cruces. Within Guatemala, the tree is restricted to Huehuetenango Department.


Montezuma cypresses have been used as ornamental trees since Pre-Columbian times. The Aztecs planted āhuēhuētl along processional paths in the gardens of Chapultepec because of its association with government. Artificial islands called chinampas were formed in the shallow lakes of the Valley of Mexico by adding soil to rectangular areas enclosed by trees such as āhuēhuētl; they also lined the region's canals prior to Spanish conquest.
Ahuehuetes are frequently cultivated in Mexican parks and gardens.  The wood is used to make house beams and furniture,. The Aztecs used its resin to treat gout, ulcers, skin diseases, wounds, and toothaches.  A decoction made from the bark was used as a diuretic and an emmenagogue. Pitch derived from the wood was used as a cure for bronchitis The leaves acted as a relaxant and could help reduce itching. In some parts of Mexico the foliage is used to decorate church altars during religious ceremonies.
John Naka, a world-renowned bonsai master, donated his very first bonsai, a Montezuma cypress, to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the United States.
A linear grove is located in the main courtyard of the Getty Center Art Museum, thriving since 1995.


Taxodium × ‘LaNana’ (T. distichum × T. mucronatum)
Taxodium 'Zhongshansa' (T. distichum × T. mucronatum)


Taxus baccata is a species of evergreen tree in the family Taxaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe (including Britain and Ireland), northwest Africa, northern Iran, and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may now be known as common yew, English yew, or European yew. It is primarily grown as an ornamental. Most parts of the plant are poisonous, with toxins that can be absorbed through inhalation and through the skin; consumption of even a small amount of the foliage can result in death.


The word yew is from Proto-Germanic *īwa-, possibly originally a loanword from Gaulish *ivos, compare Breton ivin, Irish ēo, Welsh ywen, French if (see Eihwaz for a discussion). In German it is known as Eibe. Baccata is Latin for bearing berries. The word yew as it was originally used seems to refer to the colour brown. The yew (μίλος) was known to Theophrastus, who noted its preference for mountain coolness and shade, its evergreen character and its slow growth.
Most Romance languages, with the notable exception of French (if), kept a version of the Latin word taxus (Italian tasso, Corsican tassu, Occitan teis, Catalan teix, Gasconic tech, Spanish tejo, Asturian texu, Portuguese teixo, Galician teixo and Romanian tisă) from the same root as toxic. In Slavic languages, the same root is preserved: Polish cis, Ukrainian, Slovakian and Russian tis (тис), Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Montenegrin tisa/тиса,  tis, Slovenian tisa. Albanian borrowed it as tis.
In Iran, the tree is known as sorkhdār (Persian: سرخدار, literally "the red tree").
The common yew was one of the many species first described by Linnaeus. It is one of around 30 conifer species in seven genera in the family Taxaceae, which is placed in the order Pinales.


Yews are small to medium-sized evergreen trees, growing 10–20 m (35–65 ft) (exceptionally up to 28 m or 92 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) (exceptionally 4 m or 13 ft 1 in) in diameter. The bark is thin, scaly brown, and comes off in small flakes aligned with the stem. The leaves are flat, dark green, 1–4 centimetres (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 in) long, 2–3 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) broad, and arranged spirally on the stem, but with the leaf bases twisted to align the leaves in two flat rows on either side of the stem, except on erect leading shoots where the spiral arrangement is more obvious. The leaves are poisonous.
The seed cones are modified, each cone containing a single seed, which is 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, and partly surrounded by a fleshy scale which develops into a soft, bright red berry-like structure called an aril. The aril is 8–15 mm (5⁄16–9⁄16 in) long and wide and open at the end. The arils mature 6 to 9 months after pollination, and with the seed contained, are eaten by thrushes, waxwings and other birds, which disperse the hard seeds undamaged in their droppings. Maturation of the arils is spread over 2 to 3 months, increasing the chances of successful seed dispersal. The seeds themselves are poisonous and bitter, but are opened and eaten by some bird species, including hawfinches, greenfinches, and great tits. The aril is not poisonous; it is gelatinous and very sweet tasting. The male cones are globose, 3–6 mm (1⁄8–1⁄4 in) in diameter, and shed their pollen in early spring. Yews are mostly dioecious, but occasional individuals can be variably monoecious, or change sex with time.


T. baccata is native to all countries of Europe, the Caucasus, and beyond from Turkey eastwards to northern Iran. Its range extends south to Morocco and Algeria in North Africa. A few populations are also present in the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. The limit of its northern Scandinavian distribution is its sensitivity to frost, with global warming predicted to allow its spread inland. It has been introduced elsewhere, including the United States.
T. baccata's richest central European populations are in Swiss yew-beech woodlands, on cool, steep marl slopes up to 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) in elevation in the Jura Mountains and Alpine foothills. In England it grows best in steep slopes of the chalk downs, forming extensive stands invading the grassland outside the beech woods. In more continental climates of Europe it fares better in mixed forests, of both coniferous and mixed broadleaf-conifer composition. Under its evergreen shade, no other plants can grow.
T. baccata prefers steep rocky calcareous slopes. It rarely develops beyond saplings on acid soil when under a forest canopy, but is tolerant of soil pH when planted by humans, such as their traditional placement in churchyards and cemeteries, where some of the largest and oldest trees in northwestern Europe are found. It grows well in well-drained soils, tolerating nearly any soil type, typically humus and base-rich soils, but also on rendzina and sand soils given adequate moisture. They can survive temporary flooding and moderate droughts. Roots can penetrate extremely compressed soils, such as on rocky terrain and vertical cliff faces.
T. baccata normally appears individually or in small groups within the understory, but also forms stands throughout its range, such as in sheltered calcareous sites. T. baccata is extremely shade-tolerant, with the widest temperature range for photosynthesis among European trees, able to photosynthesize in winter after deciduous trees have shed their leaves. It can grow under partial canopies of beech and other deciduous broad-leafed trees, though it only grows into large trees without such shade.
In centuries past T. baccata was exterminated from many woodlands as a poisonous hazard to the cattle and horses that often grazed in the woods. Rabbits and deer however have a level of immunity to the poisonous alkaloids, and the seeds are dispersed by birds, with thrushes greatly enjoying the fruit. It also regenerates readily from stumps and roots, even when ancient and hollow.


Taxus baccata can reach 400 to 600 years of age. Some specimens live longer but the age of yews is often overestimated. Ten yews in Britain are believed to predate the 10th century. The potential age of yews is impossible to determine accurately and is subject to much dispute. There is rarely any wood as old as the entire tree, while the boughs themselves often become hollow with age, making ring counts impossible. Evidence based on growth rates and archaeological work of surrounding structures suggests the oldest yews, such as the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, may be in the range of 2,000 years, placing them among the oldest plants in Europe. One characteristic contributing to yews' longevity is that unlike most other trees they are able to split under the weight of advanced growth without succumbing to disease in the fracture. Another is their ability to give rise to new epicormic and basal shoots from cut surfaces and low on their trunks, even in old age.


The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, has the largest recorded trunk girth in Britain and experts estimate it to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old, although it may be a remnant of a post-Roman Christian site and around 1,500 years old. The Llangernyw Yew in Clwyd, Wales, can be found at an early saint site and is about 1,500 years old. Other well known yews include the Ankerwycke Yew, the Balderschwang Yew, the Caesarsboom, the Florence Court Yew, and the Borrowdale Fraternal Four, of which poet William Wordsworth wrote. The Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve in West Sussex has one of Europe's largest yew woodlands.
The oldest specimen in Spain is located in Bermiego, Asturias. It is known as Teixu l'Iglesia in the Asturian language. It stands 15 m (49 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of 6.82 m (22 ft 4+1⁄2 in) and a crown diameter of 15 m (49 ft). It was declared a Natural Monument on April 27, 1995, by the Asturian Government and is protected by the Plan of Natural Resources.
A unique forest formed by Taxus baccata and European box (Buxus sempervirens) lies within the city of Sochi, in the Western Caucasus.
The oldest Irish Yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'), the Florence Court Yew, still stands in the grounds of the Florence Court estate in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The Irish Yew has become ubiquitous in cemeteries across the world, and it is believed that all known examples are from cuttings from this tree.


Male yews are extremely allergenic, blooming and releasing abundant amounts of pollen in the spring, with an OPALS allergy scale rating of 10 out of 10. Completely female yews have an OPALS rating of 1, the lowest possible, trapping pollen while producing none. The pollen, like most species', easily passes through window screens.
While yew pollen does not contain sufficient taxine alkaloids to cause poisoning, its allergenic potential has been implicated in adverse reactions to paclitaxel treatment.


In the ancient Celtic world, the yew tree (*eburos) had extraordinary importance; a passage by Caesar narrates that Cativolcus, chief of the Eburones, poisoned himself with yew rather than submit to Rome (Gallic Wars 6: 31). Similarly, Florus notes that when the Cantabrians were under siege by the legate Gaius Furnius in 22 BC, most of them took their lives either by sword, fire, or a poison extracted ex arboribus taxeis, that is, from the yew tree (2: 33, 50–51). In a similar way, Orosius notes that when the Astures were besieged at Mons Medullius, they preferred to die by their own swords or by yew poison rather than surrender (6, 21, 1).


Yew wood was historically important, finding use in the Middle Ages in items such as musical instruments, furniture, and longbows. The species was felled nearly to extinction in much of Europe. In the modern day it is not considered a commercial crop due to its very slow growth, but it is valued for hedging and topiary.


Today European yew is widely used in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. Due to its dense, dark green, mature foliage, and its tolerance of even very severe pruning, it is used especially for formal hedges and topiary. Its relatively slow growth rate means that in such situations it needs to be clipped only once per year (in late summer).
European yew will tolerate a wide range of soils and situations, including shallow chalk soils and shade, although in deep shade its foliage may be less dense. However it cannot tolerate waterlogging, and in poorly-draining situations is liable to succumb to the root-rotting pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi.
T. baccata is tolerant of urban pollution, cold, and heat, though soil compaction e.g. by roads can harm it. It is slow-growing, taking about 20 years to grow 4.5 metres (15 ft) tall, and vertical growth effectively stops after 100 years. With its soft bark, the tree can be killed over time by rubbing such as by climbing children.
In Europe, Taxus baccata grows naturally north to Molde in southern Norway, but it is used in gardens further north. It is also popular as a bonsai in many parts of Europe and makes a handsome small- to large-sized bonsai.
Well over 200 cultivars of T. baccata have been named. The most popular of these are the Irish yew (T. baccata 'Fastigiata'), a fastigiate cultivar of the European yew selected from two trees found growing in Ireland, and the several cultivars with yellow leaves, collectively known as "golden yew". In some locations, e.g. when hemmed in by buildings or other trees, an Irish yew can reach 20 feet in height without exceeding 2 feet in diameter at its thickest point, although with age many Irish yews assume a fat cigar shape rather than being truly columnar.


The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-
T. baccata
T. baccata 'Fastigiata' (Irish yew)
T. baccata 'Fastigiata Aureomarginata' (golden Irish yew)
T. baccata 'Icicle'
T. baccata 'Repandens'
T. baccata 'Repens Aurea'
T. baccata 'Semperaurea'
T. baccata 'Standishii'


Historically, T. baccata populations were gravely threatened by felling for longbows and destruction to protect livestock from poisoning. It is now endangered in parts of its range due to intensive land use. The species is also harvested to meet pharmaceutical demand for taxanes. Trees are often damaged by browsing and bark stripping. Yew's thin bark makes it vulnerable to fire. Its toxicity protects against many insects, but the yew mite causes significant bud mortality, and seedlings can be killed by fungi.
Clippings from ancient specimens in the UK, including the Fortingall Yew, were taken to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh to form a mile-long hedge. The purpose of this "Yew Conservation Hedge Project" is to maintain the DNA of Taxus baccata.
Another conservation programme was run in Catalonia in the early 2010s by the Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) in order to protect genetically endemic yew populations and preserve them from overgrazing and forest fires. In the framework of this programme, the 4th International Yew Conference was organised in the Poblet Monastery in 2014.
There has also been a conservation programme in northern Portugal and Northern Spain (Cantabrian Range).


Taxus canadensis, the Canada yew or Canadian yew, is a conifer native to central and eastern North America, thriving in swampy woods, ravines, riverbanks and on lake shores. Locally called simply "yew", this species is also referred to as American yew or ground-hemlock.
Most of its range is well north of the Ohio River. It is, however, found as a rare ice age relict in some coves of the Appalachian Mountains. The southernmost colonies are known from Ashe and Watauga Counties in North Carolina.


It is usually a sprawling shrub, rarely exceeding 2.5 m tall. It sometimes forms strong upright central leaders, but these cannot be formed from spreading branches, only from the original leader of the seedling plant. The shrub has thin scaly brown bark. The leaves (needles) are lanceolate, flat, dark green, 1–2.5 cm (3⁄8–1 inch) long and 1–2.4 mm (0.039–0.094 inches) broad, arranged in two flat rows either side of the branch.
The seed cones are highly modified, each cone containing a single seed partly surrounded by a modified scale which develops into a soft, bright red berry-like structure called an aril, open at the end. The seeds are eaten by thrushes, waxwings and other birds, which disperse the (highly toxic) hard seeds undamaged in their droppings. The male cones are globose, 3 mm in diameter. It is a monoecious plant – one of the few in the genus.


All parts of Canadian yew, save the aril, are toxic; it is, however, thought to be of lower toxicity than T. baccata.
Tribes in its native range used small quantities of yew leaf tea topically or internally for a variety of ailments – notably rheumatism. Tribes are also been said to have used yew twigs in steam baths to help alleviate rheumatism. Again, the plant is quite toxic and modern herbalists prefer safer, more effective herbs.
Taxus canadensis is also being harvested in northern Ontario, Québec and Atlantic Canada as the plant is a source of the class of poisonous chemicals known as taxanes, which have been a focus for cancer research. T. canadensis is much more abundant than the near-threatened Taxus brevifolia (Pacific yew), and the "greens" (new growth) can be harvested sustainably every five years, instead of stripping the bark and killing the plant.
The most abundant taxane in T. canadensis is 9-dihydro-13-acetylbaccatin III, which can be effectively converted to 10-deacetylbaccatin III, used in the production of paclitaxel. Two additional taxanes have been identified from T. canadensis, including 7β,10β,13α-triacetoxy-5α-(3'-dimethylamino-3'-phenylpropanoyl)oxy-2α-hydroxy-2(3→20)abeotaxa-4(20),11-dien-9-one and 2α,10β-diacetoxy-9α-hydroxy-5α-(3'-dimethylamino-3'-phenylpropanoyl)oxy-3,11-cyclotax-4(20)-en-13-one.


Tecoma stans is a species of flowering perennial shrub in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, that is native to the Americas.  Common names include yellow trumpetbush, yellow bells, yellow elder, ginger-thomas.  Tecoma stans is the official flower of the United States Virgin Islands and the floral emblem of The Bahamas.


A semi-evergreen shrub that can grow to a small tree, it features sharply toothed, opposite green leaves that are pinnate unpaired, with 3 to 13 serrate, 8 to 10 cm long leaflets. The leaflets, glabrous on both sides, have an elliptical lanceolate blade 2–10 cm long and 1–4 cm wide, with a long acuminate apex and a wedge-shaped base. The margin is finely toothed It reaches heights of 6 to 9 meters.
The large, showy, golden yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers are in clusters at the branch ends, are bell-shaped-funnel-shaped, five-lobed (with weakly two-lipped), often reddish-veined in the throat and 3.5 to 8.5 cm long. Flowering takes place all year round. The fruits arise from two carpels and are up to 25 cm long, narrow capsules. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The plant produces pods containing yellow seeds with papery wings. They release many seeds with membranous wings when they open. Tecoma stans reproduces sexually (by anemochory) or asexually.


Tecoma stans is native to the Americas. It extends from the southern United States through Mexico, Central America, and the Antilles to northern Venezuela, and through the Andes mountain range to northern Argentina. It was introduced in southern Africa, India, and Hawaii.
Yellow trumpetbush is a ruderal species, readily colonizing disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared land and occasionally becoming an invasive weed. It thrives in a wide variety of ecosystems, from high altitude temperate forests and tropical deciduous and evergreen forests, to xerophilous scrub and the intertropical littoral. It quickly colonizes disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared fields. The species prefers dry and sunny regions of the coast.


Esperanza is drought-tolerant and grows well in warm climates. It is an attractive plant that is cultivated as an ornamental. They are grown in many parts of the world for their beautiful flowering, to adorn streets and gardens. It can be easily propagated by stem cuttings.


The wood is used in rustic architecture like bahareque, for the construction of furniture and canoes, or as firewood or charcoal. It is a medicinal plant used against diabetes and against diseases of the digestive system, among other uses. The plant is desirable fodder when it grows in fields grazed by livestock. The other name of this plant is Stenolobium Stans, it is also called piliya in urdu. It is a very potent anti-venom against cobra venom, used by Pakistani old medicine. It is proved to be better than anti-sera, the paste of this plant's leaves are applied topically on the cobra bite. Its bio-chemicals bind with the cobra venom enzymes thus effectively inhibiting the venom.


It has invasive potential and occasionally becomes a weed. The species is considered invasive in Africa (especially South Africa), South America, Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. It now presents a significant danger for biodiversity. It competes with local species and can form thick, almost monospecific thickets.


Tecoma capensis, the Cape honeysuckle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Bignoniaceae, native to southern Africa. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the true honeysuckle.


Tecoma capensis has been in cultivation for many years and is often used for hedging, as it is a scrambling shrub. It can be propagated from cuttings or by removing rooted suckers during the active growth phase.
It can be planted in semi-shade to full sun. Tolerating temperatures down to 5 °C (41 °F), it can be grown in mild temperate areas with the protection of a warm wall. Otherwise it can be grown in a container and taken indoors through the winter months. To keep this shrub clean and tidy, it must be pruned back in late winter to promote new growth and flowers. The application of a balanced fertilizer after pruning will enhance the growth and flowering.
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Tecoma capensis is an excellent plant to use in a wildlife garden in Southern Africa, since it is popular with sunbirds and certain insects due to its nectar. As a scrambler, it can be quite dense (if pruned) and as such can be utilised as a nesting site by a few bird species.
The larvae of the death's head hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos) and the fulvous hawkmoth (Coelonia mauritii) eat the leaves of this plant.


Tectocoris diophthalmus, commonly known as the hibiscus harlequin bug or cotton harlequin bug, is the sole member of the genus Tectocoris. It is a brightly coloured convex and rounded shield-shaped bug with a metallic sheen that grows to about 20 mm. Adult females are mostly orange and males are both blue and red or orange, while nymphs are typically metallic green and purple. The colours are quite variable, and experiments suggest that the variation in colour may reduce bird predation, especially on the immature stages. This extreme level of variation is such that different taxonomists have, since 1781, described this species under different new names at least 16 times, some of these supernumerary names remaining in use until 2006, when it was finally confirmed that they were all colour forms of a single organism. It is common in Eastern Australia, New Guinea and several Pacific Islands in habitats ranging from urban to agricultural and coastal areas.
Hibiscus harlequin bugs feed on many species of the family Malvaceae, as well as cultivated cotton. They will also feed on Illawarra flame tree flowers, grevillea and bottlebrush saplings.
They pierce the stems of young shoots and suck the sap. Females lay clusters of eggs around stems of usually the hibiscus plant and then guards them until they hatch.


Telebasis salva, the desert firetail, is a species of narrow-winged damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is found in Central America, North America, and South America.
The IUCN conservation status of Telebasis salva is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The population is stable. The IUCN status was reviewed in 2018.


Teleogryllus commodus, commonly known as the black field cricket, is a cricket species native to Australia.They are significant pests to most plants in Australia and New Zealand. T. commodus belongs to the order Orthoptera, the family Gryllidae which are characterized by wings that are folded on the side of the body, chewing mouthparts and long, thin antennae. T. commodus has the ability to learn via the recognition of rewards. In addition, they are also capable of odour recognition and thus can be taught via odour pairing.


T. commodus can grow up to 30 mm long, with long antennas and legs adapted for jumping. Their coloration is usually black or brown. Nymphs can be recognized by a white stripe on the abdomen. Adult females are characterized by ovipositors which are long structures used for laying eggs. In contrast, males have modified veins in forewings with hard pegs that play a role in song production. Another fact about black field crickets is that their tegmina (leathery forewing) is asymmetrical.
T. commodus undergo hemimetabolous (the lack of pupal stage from larva to adult) development with 3 main stages: egg, nymph (multiple stages~8), and adulthood Females age faster than males do. Furthermore, virgin males have a shorter life expectancy than mated males, most likely due to high calling efforts in attracting mates. However, high quality males may still die sooner if they call very intensely.


T. commodus can be located throughout Australia and New Zealand. The species originated in Australia but with time they were introduced to New Zealand. They are known to cause significant damage to pastures and gardens. The habitat of T. commodus consists of rocky surfaces or ground with large amounts of cracks as it gives them shelter from the sun, and is most active at night. Moreover, T. commodus live in clusters and thus seek living quarters that are already occupied by others. The adult males usually change burrows every two days as a consequence of scarce mates or frequent attacks from other males.


T. commodus are omnivores so their diet is rather broad but they mostly feed on plants, so far no preference for any particular plants has been established. Reproductive differences between male and females result in differing dietary requirements. Females require a diet with higher protein content for the production of eggs, whereas males require an energy rich diet for call production.


Male black field crickets produce mating calls using their forewings. Rubbing of wings produces pure tones, while rapid oscillations produce acoustic radiation. The greatest degree of sounds are generated upon wing closure. The general pattern of advertisement calls start with single chirp then move to pulsation with high repetition. The duration of calls is an aspect females seek as an indication of genetic superiority. In addition, females show a preference for males that produce a large number of repeats during calling. As such, males spend as long as half a night calling. Prolonged calling, however, comes with a price by shortening of the male lifespan because of the associated high energy expenditure. Calling is also an indicator of male age, as the expression of signaling changes with age. Females showed a preference for males that produce large number of repeats during calling.


T. commodus fighting behavior resembles that of hermit crabs and gammarids. Their stereotypical fighting sequence starts with antennal contact and mandible flaring. If neither male concedes from the aggressive display,  violent wrestling and biting proceeds. The winner of the fight often exhibits acoustic display. The antennal contact is a way for males to communicate their strength. Naive males are just as likely as larger males to win a non-physical opponent.


Natural predators of T. commodus include bats and ground beetles. The key to crickets' survival when targeted by predators is detection. T. commodus mostly rely on their hearing when avoiding predators, which is affected by their surroundings.


Male T. commodus use advertisement calling to attract mates. Inbred males call less often than out-bred males. Female T. commodus prefer males with a more frequent calling effort, so that inbred males suffer reductions in mating success.  Male calling rate likely serves as an indicator to females of genome-wide heterozygosity and/or male condition.


Tellima grandiflora, the bigflower tellima or fringecups, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. It is the only species in the genus Tellima.


The plant is a native of moist forests in western North America, from Alaska and British Columbia to northern California. It can be a garden escape and become naturalised in some other areas, e.g. Ireland and Great Britain. Although it is secure in the western portions of its range, Tellima grandiflora is listed as vulnerable in Idaho and Montana, and as critically imperiled in Alberta.


It is widely grown in gardens. Different strains have been developed. It seeds itself freely in suitable climates.
This plant, crushed and made into an infusion, was used by the Skagit to aid people in sicknesses such as loss of appetite. Ellagitannins are chemical compounds that have potential antiviral activity. Tellimagrandin II, the first of the ellagitannins, formed from pentagalloyl glucose, is laccase-catalyzed dimerised to cornusiin E in T. grandiflora.


The bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus) is a bushshrike. This family of passerine birds is closely related to the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, and was once included in that group. This species is endemic to southern Africa, mainly in South Africa and Namibia, with an isolated population in the mountains of eastern Zimbabwe and western Mozambique.
It is a species of open habitats, including karoo scrub, fynbos and parks and gardens in urban areas. The bulky cup nest is constructed in a hedge, scrub or tree fork. The 2–6, usually three, red-brown or lilac-blotched greenish-blue eggs are incubated by both sexes for about 16 days to hatching, with another 18 days to fledging.
The adult bokmakierie is a 22–23 cm long bird with olive-green upperparts and a conspicuous bright yellow tip to the black tail. The head is grey with a yellow supercilium, and the strong bill has a hooked upper mandible. The underparts are bright yellow with a broad black collar between the throat and breast, which continues up the neck sides through the eye to the bill. The legs and feet are blue-grey. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are a dull grey-green below, and lack the black gorget.
There are four subspecies, differing mainly in colour shade and size. Although the species as a whole is not threatened, the isolated dark subspecies restrictus in the Chimanimani Mountains numbers only about 400 birds.
The bokmakierie has a range of loud whistles and calls, often given in duet, but the most typical is the one that gives this species its name, bok-bok-mak-kik.
Unlike the true shrikes, which perch conspicuously in the open, the bokmakierie is shy and skulking. This bird has a typical shrike diet of insects, small lizards, snakes, small birds and frogs. It is preyed upon itself by snakes, mongooses, and large shrikes like the northern fiscal and southern boubou.


The bateleur (/ˌbætəˈlɜːr, ˈbætəlɜːr/; Terathopius ecaudatus) is a medium-sized eagle in the family Accipitridae. It is often considered a relative of the snake eagles and, like them, it is classified within the subfamily Circaetinae. It is the only member of the genus Terathopius and may be the origin of the "Zimbabwe Bird", the national emblem of Zimbabwe. Adult bateleurs are generally black in colour with a chestnut colour on the mantle as well as also on the rump and tail. Adults also have gray patches about the leading edges of the wings (extending to the secondaries in females) with bright red on their cere and their feet. Adults also show white greater coverts, contrasting with black remiges in males, gray patches on the underwing primaries and black wingtips. The juvenile bateleur is quite different, being largely drab brown with a bit of paler feather scaling. All bateleurs have extremely large heads for their size, rather small bills, large feet, relatively short legs, long, bow-like wings and uniquely short tails, which are much smaller still on adults compared to juvenile birds.
This species is native to broad areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and scarcely up into Arabia. It is characteristically a bird of somewhat open habitats such as savanna with some trees present and open dry woodland. It is in life history, a rather peculiar bird of prey with a free-wheeling generalist diet that includes much carrion but also tends to hunt a wide range of live prey, including many small to unexpectedly relatively large mammals and reptiles along with generally relatively small birds. Bateleurs are highly aerial birds that spend much time soaring and will frequently flight with exaggerated embellishments, perhaps when excited or angered. They tend to build a relatively small if sturdy stick nest in a large tree and lay only a single egg. Despite being a rather aggressive bird in other contexts, bateleurs are easily flushed from their own nest, making them exceptionally vulnerable to nest predators, including humans, and nest failures. It may take as long as 7 to 8 years to attain full maturity, perhaps the longest stretch to maturity of any raptor. This species has long been known to be declining rather pronouncedly in overall population and it is mostly confined to protected areas today. Currently the IUCN classifies the bateleur as an Endangered species due primarily to anthropogenic causes such as habitat destruction, pesticide usage and persecution.


The bateleur has been found to be a proper member of the subfamily Circaetinae, commonly called snake or serpent eagles, via a variety of genetic studies. Given the outward similarities of the bateleur to snake eagles, the relationship has long been inferred by authors. In particular, the bateleur was suggested to have their closest living relations in the similarly large Circaetus snake eagles. This relationship was well borne-out by a genetic study that found that this species and the short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus) form a monophyletic clade, based on nucleotide sequences in the cytochrome b gene. Even though, when contrasted with snake eagles, bateleurs appear to differ greatly in plumage patterns, the two genera show certain similarities in food, feeding behavior, and breeding biology. However, Lerner and Mindell (2005), based on the molecular sequence from two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear intron, indicated a previously unsuspected close relationship of the bateleur with similarly “aberrant” but extremely different, in nearly every respect of appearance and life history, member of the Circaetinae, the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). Chromosome banding studies have also found a relatively recent genetic relationship of the bateleurs with the Old World vultures.
The common name of "Bateleur" is French for "street performer". Meanwhile, the scientific name is from name teras (Greek) for “marvelous”; ops (Greek) for “face”; e (Latin) for “without”; caudatus (Latin) “tail”. The bird was given its common name by François Levaillant, a French naturalist and explorer. The original scientific name was Falco ecaudatus, given by François Marie Daudin, as the concept of disparate genera between birds of prey was devised later on (nor were falcons then known to be unrelated to many other variety of diurnal birds of prey).


The bateleur is of note for its unique morphology and plumage, with some anatomical similarities to both snake eagles and vultures. The species has a thick neck and a very large, rather conspicuously cowled head with a proportionately short bill, albeit one covered with a very large cere. The cowl is also present on snake eagles but in those it is less dramatically apparent. The other features in perched adult bateleurs are rather oddly stumpy, such as the short legs and exceptionally short tail, possibly the shortest proportionately of all raptors. Its posture while perched is extremely upright, making them look like quite a tall raptor on the ground despite its rather short legs. Even while perched, the body tends to be dominated by their exceptionally large wings, which possess some 25 secondary feathers, perhaps more than any other raptor. The adult bateleur usually has a chestnut coloration along the mantle, back, rump and tail, including the undertail coverts. The adult male bateleur is predominantly black with grey shoulders, which appear edged with white when freshly moulted. The adult female differs by having grey-brown, not black, on the greater coverts and black-tipped grey, not black, secondaries. Furthermore up to 7% of adults have a "cream morph" where they have chestnut tails but the other chestnut areas are almost fully replaced by cream to pale brown coloring. The cream morph may reportedly be slightly more prevalent in drier areas. The bare parts of adult bateleurs are exceptionally conspicuous, with the adult cere, bare facial skin and feet all being rather bright red, however in some they can also temporarily fade to pink, pale pink or yellowish at times, such as when they are perching in the shade or bathing. The bare parts flush the most red during times of excitement. The bill itself is black bill with a yellow centre and red base. The eyes are dark brown.
The juvenile is very distinct from the adults of the species. Juveniles of the bateleur have a longer tail than mature birds. They furthermore have essentially all brown coloring, with dull rufous to creamy edging apparent on some areas. The head of the juvenile bateleur is paler and tawnier than elsewhere on its body while the eyes are brown, the cere a rather unique greenish-blue and the feet whitish in colour. At as late as 2–3 years of age, the immature bateleur is still much the same in appearance as the juvenile but by the fourth year becomes more sooty-brown, with sexual dimorphism already evidenced by the more extensive dark wing markings of males. In the 5th year, the plumage may show the first signs of chestnut and the grey colour about back and shoulders tend to manifest. Also from 3–5 years old, the cere and feet turn yellow then to dull-pink. By the 6th and 7th years of life, the plumage of subadult bateleurs blackens and the chestnut portions of the plumage increase. The shoulders become fully grey by the 8th year, the likely age of maturity. As for the bare parts in juvenile bateleurs, the cere and facial skin are a distinct pale grey-blue to green-blue. The juvenile’s feet are greenish-white to greyish-white, at 4-5 the cere, facial skin and feet turn yellow, then pink before finally reddening. The eyes are similar in hue to those of adult bateleurs but are a slightly lighter, being more honey-brown, while the bill of juveniles are mainly pale grey-blue in colour.
In flight, the bateleur appears as a rather large raptor with disproportionately elongated, rather narrow and slightly bow-shaped wings, which appear pinched in at the bases, broad across the secondaries and regularly narrow, pointed and upturned at the tips. Upon sighting, the wings often catch the eye before the large head, which is proportionately slightly bigger even than their cousins, the snake eagles. The tail is so short in adult bateleurs that the feet extend below the tail tip, almost giving the impression that the raptor nearly has no tail. This is as opposed to juveniles, where the feet come up about 5 cm (2.0 in) short of the tail tip, with the feet coming to exceed the tail, which is shrinking via moults, in length around the 5th year of maturation. The adult bateleur’s wingspan is an extraordinary 2.9 times greater than its total length. The adult male bateleur is mostly black above with a chestnut back and tail and grey forewings, below he is black on the body, contrasting with a chestnut tail, as well as with the white wing linings and black flight feathers except for the greyish based primaries. The adult female bateleur is similar in plumage to the male overall but differs in her black-tipped grey secondaries above and more extensively white underwings with the black on the female confined to the wingtips and trailing edges. The juvenile bateleur on the wing appears broader winged and especially longer tailed with a largely uniform brown coloration, including the greater coverts, with paler feather mainly about the head as well as on the flight feathers.


The bateleur is a mid-sized eagle and large raptor. It is likely the second heaviest of the Circaetinae subfamily of accipitrids. By far the largest of the subfamily is the Philippine eagle which is well over twice as massive and is far larger in all aspects of measurement than the bateleur, with a drastically differing structure (broad, relatively short wings, very long legs and tail). One traditional snake eagle, the brown snake eagle ( Circaetus cinereus), rivals the bateleur in most aspects of size including body mass but possesses a rather longer tail and slightly shorter but broader wings. Additionally, the widespread and slightly broader-winged short-toed snake eagle and proportionately long and slender-winged black-breasted snake eagle (Circaetus pectoralis) can be nearly as large in wingspan as the bateleur but tend to be somewhat less heavy. The total length of the bateleur is 55 to 70 cm (22 to 28 in). Typical length of a full-grown bird is around 63.5 cm (25.0 in).  The wingspan of bateleurs can vary from 168 to 190 cm (5 ft 6 in to 6 ft 3 in). Body mass of bateleurs can vary from 1,800 to 3,000 g (4.0 to 6.6 lb). One sample of 10 unsexed bateleurs weighed an average of 2,200 g (4.9 lb) while a smaller sample of three weighed an average of 2,392 g (5.273 lb). Additionally, a median body mass of 2,385 g (5.258 lb) was cited in one study.
The bateleur evidences some sexual dimorphism in favour of the female as is expected in raptorial birds but this size difference is fairly minimal relative to many other accipitrids, averaging up to about 6%. Among standard measurements, males have a wing chord length of 476 to 553 mm (18.7 to 21.8 in) while that of the female is 530 to 559 mm (20.9 to 22.0 in). In tail length, adult males measure 98 to 124 mm (3.9 to 4.9 in) and can be even shorter in adult females at 105 to 113 mm (4.1 to 4.4 in), in some cases the adult’s tail may reportedly measure as short as 72 mm (2.8 in). This contrasts with the tail of juvenile bateleurs which measures 142 to 172 mm (5.6 to 6.8 in). The tarsus can measure from 67 to 75 mm (2.6 to 3.0 in) in males and 72 to 75 mm (2.8 to 3.0 in) in females. Unsexed adult bateleurs in Tsavo East National Park were found to average 513 mm (20.2 in) in wing chord length, 34.5 mm (1.36 in) with a range of 28.6 to 38 mm (1.13 to 1.50 in) in culmen length and a relatively small hind claw length of 30.6 mm (1.20 in). While the hind or hallux claw is usually the most enlarged in most species of accipitrid, on the other hand in the Tsavo East bateleurs, unusually the middle claw on the front of the foot was slightly larger at 32 mm (1.3 in). Notably the proportions of bateleurs are similar to snake eagles with robust feet with rough, thick skin and short talons, the bateleur in particular having very thick, large toes structurally almost like those of a big owl and very sharp talons reminiscent in sharpness of highly predaceous larger African raptors. Further like snake eagles, bateleurs have a rather large headed but with a smallish beak coupled with a large gape. These adaptations generally equip the subfamily to better handle and ingest snakes relative to other accipitrids.


The bateleur, particularly in its adult plumage, is often considered one of the most distinctive raptors in the world. When perched or flying adults or older immatures are quite unmistakable. The bateleur can be readily be distinguished even by inexperienced observers from the very differently-shaped and usually rather smaller-bodied and winged augur buzzards (Buteo augur) and jackal buzzards (Buteo rufofuscus). These do not overlap with bateleurs in nearly all respects of morphology, proportions nor flight actions. Nonetheless, both of these buzzards are sometimes mistaken for bateleurs due to their own combinations of black, white and chestnut, which are completely differently composed than those of the bateleur. Despite how distinctive the buzzards are from the bateleur, some reports of bateleurs from areas where they are currently gone are almost certain to have been misidentified jackal buzzards. Juveniles and immatures of up to 2–3 years old are hardly less distinctive in shape but could be confused, largely due to similar proportions of their large head, brown plumage and whitish legs with certain snake eagles. The brown snake eagle is perhaps the most similar to the juvenile bateleur but it has yellow eyes, longer legs, much broader, shorter and differently shaped wings with the tips of wings reaching its banded tail. Even the black-chested and the rather slight Beaudouin's snake eagle (Circaetus beaudouinii) are sometimes considered potentially confusable with juvenile bateleurs, but both of these respective species are rather uniform and darker brown ventrally and about the head and much paler dorsally, with a highly different contrasting whitish cream colour below.


Bateleurs are usually silent for much of the year. The main call, uttered whether perched or in aerial display, or when pirating from other raptors, is a far-carrying, loud raucous schaaaa-aw. They may too vocalize in a similar manner during courtship. Alternatively, bateleur calls may consist of resonant barking calls, kow-aw. The barking call can be accompanied by half-spread wings and jerking of the body up and down or may too be uttered in flight, the latter in a similar manner to that of a fish eagle. Distraction display are sometimes accompanied by subdued barking chatter, ka-ka-ka-ka.... A not dissimilar call of kau-kau-kau-koaagh-koaggh has been described as given by perched birds. Other softer calls are uttered when perched near the nest. The young of the bateleur tend to engage harsh squealing call is kyup-kyup keeaw keeaw, usually as a hunger call at approach of parent with food. Also the species’ young may make a melodious twip call.


The bateleur occupies a very large range through mainly sub-Saharan Africa. The species resides in West Africa from southern Mauritania to Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, the northern portions of Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and much of Ghana through western Burkina Faso, much of Togo and Benin and northern and central Nigeria. It is possibly extinct in Mauritania, range restricted in Guinea (mainly to Kiang West) and Liberia but is still locally common where good habitat remains elsewhere in this region. Similarly far north, a rare population is believed to persist out of Africa in extreme southwestern Saudi Arabia and western Yemen. In central and east Africa, the bateleur may be found in northern Cameroon, southern Niger, southern Chad, southern Sudan, South Sudan, northern Central African Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, western Somalia, northern, eastern and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and a majority of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. In Southern Africa, the bateleur is found quite widely, being found almost throughout, where habitat is favorable, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. Additionally, they may range Botswana in all but southernmost portion also being found still in northern and eastern Namibia and northwestern South Africa, where its range has contracted considerably from as far south once as the Cape Province to almost entirely to being found exclusively within protected areas north of the Orange River excepting a portion of Kruger National Park. The species is possibly extirpated from Eswatini in southern Africa. The bateleur is regarded as a vagrant in the countries of Tunisia, Cyprus and rarely Egypt, Israel and Iraq. In April 2012 a juvenile bateleur was seen in Algeciras in southern Spain.


The bateleur is a common to fairly common resident or nomadic bird of the partially open savanna country and of woodland within Sub-Saharan Africa. During breeding, it tends to require closed-canopy savannah-woodland habitats, including Acacia savanna as well as mopane and miombo woodlands. They may too acclimate to thornveld and overall various fairly shrubby areas. It tends to rarely occur in heavily forested and mountainous habitats. However, while the species can forage extensively in largely treeless habitats such as treeless savanna but is nearly as rare in pure desert lacking arborescent growth as it is in tropical rainforests. Bateleurs are seldom to be found around extensive wetlands but may regularly be found near watering holes. Although often in fairly dry savanna habitats, in Kenya it is reportedly absent from areas where the rainfall is under 250 mm (9.8 in) annually, probably because it limits the growth of the leafy trees that they require for nesting. In Ethiopia, it tends to be associated with well-wooded areas. Habitat tends to be most closely studied in southern Africa. It is mostly common found in broad-leaved woodland in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. In Namibia it is often found over tall woodland near drainage lines, and over ephemeral rivers in north-eastern Namibia and within the more arid Etosha National Park. In Zambia, it is found in a variety of habitats from woodlands to open plains but avoids the most densely wooded areas. Reportedly in Malawi, it is often associated with Forest–savanna mosaics but is sometimes regularly seen over cultivated areas and even may be seen flying over large cities. To the contrary, in Mozambique it is said to avoid areas with a dense human population. The species can occur from sea level up to 4,500 m (14,800 ft), but not normally a mountain-dwelling species and mainly occurs below 3,000 m (9,800 ft). This is supported in Zimbabwe, where the bateleur is relatively common but appears to largely avoid the extensive amount of hilly and rugged areas present in that country.


This bateleur is unusually conspicuous due to its propensity for gliding flights over favorable habitats in much of Africa. The bird spends a considerable amount of time on the wing, particularly in low-altitude flights. Due to the conspicuous behaviour and colorful plumage, the bateleur is frequently described in superlatives such as "one of the most beautiful and spectacular things that flies". This species tends to take off with unusually fast, shallow beats for a bird of this relative large size. After take-off, the bateleur sails at a mean speed of about 50 to 60 km/h (31 to 37 mph). They often rock from side-to-side with the wings held in a strong dihedral with very limiting flapping, vaguely recalling the flight of the American turkey vulture (Cathares aura) although the flight is generally more forceful, fast and acrobatic than that species and at times can be evocative of a huge falcon. Although the species tends to fly fairly low, bateleurs can soar and circle quite high as well. Engaged in its aforementioned dihedral flight it is often cants continuously from side-to-side, likely the origin of which it was given its common name (loosely "tumbler", "balancer" or “tightrope walker") of French derivation. Various flying embellishments may be undertaken nearly aseasonally. Although not typically given to forward somersault nor to loop-the-loop, bateleurs may with some regularity perform a rapid 360 degrees sideways roll. They are often given to flying with more embellishments when in the presence of another bateleur, even with juveniles provoking one another entirely uncoupled seemingly from breeding courtship or territorial displays. Typical home ranges of around 40 km² (15 sq mi) were reported per pair in Kruger National Park and these were considered unusually small by overall species standards. Intruders to whom this behaviour is displayed always submit and submission is shown by retreating to a safe upper boundary (elevation). Males and females both display this behaviour in all stages of the breeding cycle. This behaviour is mainly shown to members of the same sex and particularly to non-adults, as it is thought that they may have a greater ability to take over another bird's territory (having greater competitive ability for limited food resources).
The bateleur is generally a solitary bird. However, juveniles may accompany one or both parents for about three months and loose congregations of as many as 40-50 or more have been record of mainly immatures. These tend to be aggregations of otherwise unassociated immature bateleurs attracted to rich feeding areas such as newly-discovered carrion, bush fires, recently burnt areas or temporary floods and occasionally by termite emergences. In the wild bateleurs are shy of man and sensitive to disturbance at the nest, easily abandoning the structure. In captivity, however, they becomes unusually tame. Bateleur eagles are among a group of raptors that secrete a clear, salty fluid from their nares whilst eating. According to Schmidt-Nielson's 1964 hypothesis, this is due to the general necessity for birds to use an extrarenal mechanism of salt secretion to aid water reabsorption.


Generally, as in most raptors found as breeding residents in Africa, the bateleur is considered sedentary and territorial but it is a species that requires very large home ranges. However, in general the species neither as staunchly residential nor sedentary as many other Sub-Saharan African raptors. Both immature and sometimes adult bateleurs are considered clearly nomadic. At times, the bateleur is even regarded as an “irruptive or local migrant”. Some regular north-to-south movements may occur in West Africa and may occur transequatorially in East Africa to avoid heavy rains. In Kruger, immatures are driven out by adults on territory during the breeding season and then often wander widely before returning for the non-breeding season. Recoveries of juveniles in southern Africa show that individuals have been recovered at assorted distances from their nests of origin ranging from as far as 30 to 285 km (19 to 177 mi) away. It was noted that in some cases, heavier rainfall may have caused farther afield dispersals.


Bateleurs seem to devote an exceptional amount of time to thermoregulation frequently spending much of its day variously sunning, to warm up, and bathing, to cool off. These eagles are frequently seen to enter water-bodies for a bath and then open their wings to often sunbathe. Standing upright and holding their wings straight out to the sides and tipped vertically, a classic 'phoenix' pose as they turn to follow the sun. Bateleurs will stand on the ground with their wings spread, exposing the feathers to direct sunlight, warming the oils in the feathers. The bird will then spread the oils with its beak to improve its aerodynamics. In some countries, local nicknames of the species may include as the "Conifer eagle" or "Pine eagle" due to its feathers resembling a conifer cone when fluffed up and engaging in thermoregulatory behaviour. At times, this is described as a “striking heraldic posture”. Bateleurs may also be seen "praying" allowing ants to crawl over the wings and feathers, collecting bits of food, dead feather and skin material. When covered in ants, the bateleur then ruffles its feathers, startling the ants, which react by secreting formic acid as self-defence. This in turn kills the ticks and fleas, possibly ridding the host of its parasites.


The bateleur is a dietary generalist. This species generally forages from flight, flying mostly low and straight whilst scanning the ground, periodically banking and retracing section of track when possible foods are spotted. Their hunting range can be truly enormous ranging in some cases up to 55 to 200 km² (21 to 77 sq mi). Bateleurs may spend up to 8–9 hours or up to 80% of daylight on the wing, perhaps largely for hunting and foraging purposes, and have reported to have even covered as much as 300 to 500 km (190 to 310 mi) in a single day. When potential prey or food is spotted, they then descend in tight spirals to check it out. The bateleur is a very effective discoverer of carrion at all times and often is the first to come to large carcasses or roadkills. Juveniles appear to attend large carrion much more than adults and dietary studies appear to support that carrion is rather more significant to the foods of juvenile and immature bateleurs compared to adults. Despite an aptitude for scavenging, descriptions of this eagle as “not a very rapacious species” are erroneous as it has been found to a highly powerful predator for its size and one that is often rather active at pursuing living prey, with seemingly most food consumed during the breeding season being prey that the bateleur has itself killed. Bateleurs kill most prey on the ground with a steep stoop on partially closed wings. On evidence, they may alter their stoop onto prey with a slow drop with raised wings, rather in a gentle descent like a parachute, largely when taking slower moving prey such as some reptiles. Additionally, they can also take birds on the wing. As occasional kleptoparasites, they sometimes aerially pirate foods from other raptors. Alternately, they may try to intercept other raptor’s kills while the raptor is feeding on them, whether it be on the ground, in tree or on a rock or even immediately after the kill is made. These piratical attacks are sometimes carried out against large carrion eaters like vultures and even against larger eagles, and in them they may drive their target to the ground, with interlocking talons or trading shallow blows with their feet. Bateleurs too hunt insects by walking on the ground, particularly after grassfires and will patrol for small carcasses alongside roads.
Bateleurs forage almost entirely based on opportunity and have no particular specialization on any particular prey type. As a result, a wide prey spectrum has been reported, with around 160 prey species known, they thus rival martial eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus) and perhaps just slightly behind tawny eagles (Aquila rapax) as the most diversified feeder known among African eagles. Among their prey, mammals, birds and reptiles, roughly in that order, seem to be considerably preferred over other prey taxon. Based on morphology, their long middle toes has been cited as indication that they originally diversified to become a bird-eater but a rather small degree of sexual dimorphism between males and females indicates a preference for mammal eating. By the most complete picture of the bateleurs diet was a compilation study that complied 1879 prey items from differing parts of the range. In it was found that bateleurs derived 54.6% of the diet from mammals, with perhaps two-thirds to about half of the diet being mammalian carrion, along with 23.7% of the diet being from birds, 17.8% from reptiles, 1.9% from fish, 1.8% from invertebrates and an extremely small amount (about 0.2%) of amphibian food. Predominantly, within the compilation study, prey was unidentified to species, with 58.4% of the carrion sources, 26.9% of live mammals, genera or family and 22.2% of birds unidentified to species.
Differing study areas show differing prey results for bateleurs. In a woodland based study of nesting birds in Zimbabwe, 175 prey items were found for bateleurs with the diet seemingly dominated by prey appearing to be taken alive and relatively large prey at that. The primary prey in the study were found to be scrub hare (Lepus saxatilis) (at 26.3% of the prey by number), Cape hyrax (Procavia capensis) (at 10.3%), Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus) (6.85%), brown greater galago (Otolemur crassicaudatus) (6.28%)  and helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) (4.57%). In more hilly, rocky country of Zimbabwe, seemingly live prey was also preferred but a stronger prevalence of birds was detected among the 249 prey items. In this study, the main prey were scrub hares (22.8%), unidentified doves (10%), glossy starlings (6.72%), other small birds of around 100 g (3.5 oz) (6.69%), crested guineafowls (Guttera pucherani) (5.43%) and unidentified mammals (5.02%). In Kruger National Park, a much stronger preference for likely or verified carrion was detected in the bateleur’s breeding season diet. Here, 731 food items in thornveld type habitat and 341 prey items in savanna type habitat were reviewed. It was estimated 31.6% of the diet was carrion was from medium-sized antelopes of around 20 to 40 kg (44 to 88 lb) in weight, followed by small carrion sources of around 8 to 15 kg (18 to 33 lb) to somewhat larger carrion from 54 kg (119 lb) impala (Aepyceros melampus).  Beyond carrion, the Kruger food study found that 16.4% of the total diet consisted of unidentified live mammals, 3.73% each by assorted dove species and lilac-breasted rollers (Coracias caudatus), 3% by glossy starlings and 1.6% by skinks. Further variation was found in the diet farther north in Tsavo East National Park in Kenya. Of 139 prey items from the nest areas of 2 pairs, mostly live prey predominated again, here led by Kirk's dik-diks (Madoqua kirkii) at 19.42%, unidentified snakes at 18.7%, cape hares at 4.3%, Crocidura shrews at 3.59%, ungulate carrion at 3.59%, Streptopelia doves at 3.59%, common dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula) at 2.87% and red-crested korhaan (Lophotis ruficrista) at 2.87%. Without statistics, Cangandala National Park in Angola, the prey species reported at nests were included brown greater galago, greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus), Gambian pouched rat, and unidentified hares. Unfortunately, detailed dietary studies have only been conducted in southern and eastern Africa and details of the diet are unknown elsewhere, however it is assumed the species is a generalist and opportunist throughout its range.
In general, a picture emerges that the primary food sources of bateleurs are live taken medium-sized mammals, carrion of generally larger mammal species, rather smallish bird prey and a small diversity of reptiles. When selecting mammals, small prey such as rodents and shrews are by no means neglected but a preference for relatively large rodents tends to be found. These may consist of assorted mice, gerbils and dormice to ground squirrels, bush squirrels and vlei rats to very large rodents such as Gambian pouched rats, greater and lesser cane rat (Thryonomys gregorianus) and South African springhares (Pedetes capensis) although certainly any consumption of adult Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) is derived from carrion. Additionally, most African species of hare as well as, more secondarily, hedgehogs and elephant shrews and a variety of smallish carnivorous mammals. The latter may include live prey species including several species of mongoose, from dwarf to banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) and Selous's mongoose (Paracynictis selousi), both about the same body mass as a bateleur, and at least four species of genets as well as striped polecats (Ictonyx striatus). Over 30 mammal species have been identified as foods for bateleurs exclusive from carrion, including various larger food species, with carrion of ungulates ranging in size from that of Sharpe's grysbok (Raphicerus sharpei) to African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and the carrion of carnivorans from the size of jackals to that of lions (Panthera leo). In compilation studies, the most often fed-on ungulates by bateleurs that were identified to species were reported to be impala and steenbok (Raphicerus campestris), at 4.2% and 2.2% of the total foods, respectively . Bateleurs have been reported to opportunistically scavenge on human remains, as was reportedly witnessed during the South African Border War.
Outside of galagos, among primate foods most monkeys observed in the diet such as baboons and vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are thought to be largely scavenged as carrion. However, studies of king colobus (Colobus polykomos) and Angola colobus (Colobus angolensis) in Central and southeastern Africa (both where few details are known of bateleurs’ diets), it was mentioned bateleurs may be a potential predator of troops based on the anti-predator activity and vocalizations of these species provoked by bateleurs. The bateleur, using its large, powerful feet, does not shy away from very large prey and has been known to regularly kill mammals heavier than itself including scrub hare estimated to weigh 2,600 g (5.7 lb), springhares estimated to weigh 3,000 g (6.6 lb), Cape hyrax estimated to weigh 3,800 g (8.4 lb), Kirk's dik diks estimated to weigh 4,000 g (8.8 lb) and greater cane rats estimated to weigh 4,500 g (9.9 lb). Even more impressive mammalian kills have been suspected, with instances where reportedly adults black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas), honey badgers (Mellivora capensis), and aardwolf (Protelas cristatus), any of which may weigh around twice the aforementioned large mammal prey for bateleurs, may have been unexpectedly killed by bateleurs. Furthermore, an instance of attempted predation in Tanzania on an adult honey badger was witnessed, ending with both the bateleur and badger dying from the ensuing fight.
In all, a considerable diversity of birds may be taken by bateleurs, perhaps around 80 species being known in their prey spectrum. They often focus on rather small, if normally live caught, birds compared to other eagles of a similar size. Bateleurs may show a special liking for pigeons and doves as prey, although only about a half dozen have been identified to species. Doves usually of the genus Streptopelia were found to be the most prominent avian prey in compilation studies, accounting for 17.6% of known avian prey and 4.25% of the total foods in several large bateleur food studies. Much other similar avian prey, commonly those weighing around 80 to 300 g (2.8 to 10.6 oz), including a surprising diversity of nightjars (perhaps since they are prone to ending up as roadkill due to their predilection for resting on roads by night) and shorebirds like lapwings, other plovers, sandpipers and terns in addition to kingfishers (up to the size of the giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima)), rollers, hoopoes, small hornbills, parakeets and some passerines, usually those with a conspicuous presence on the savanna such as shrikes, weavers and starlings. Unlike many other eagles of similar or larger size, there are few to none instances of waterfowl or large waders (i.e. heron, storks, flamingoes, etc.) falling prey to bateleurs although at least one African spoonbill (Platalea alba) was recorded as bateleur prey. The largest typical avian prey tends to be assorted gamebirds, with most common guineafowl, spurfowl and francolin, smaller available species of bustard and some quail known in their diet. The largest of these avian prey species attacked by bateleurs top out around 1,200 to 1,800 g (2.6 to 4.0 lb). The reason for the disinterest in mid-sized to large avian prey of sizes comparable to some mammals and reptiles known to have been taken by bateleurs is not clear, as the bateleur does not in general appear to shy away from difficult-to-capture birds nor to large and dangerous prey of other animal classes.
The bateleur was once reported to be a very common predator of reptiles like their cousins the snake eagles. Although this is somewhat erroneous, bateleurs do not infrequently include reptiles in their diet.  As much as 30% of the diet can be reptilian, mainly snakes. Some reptiles taken are small and innocuous such as a few species of plated lizards and a few species of colubrid snakes. However, like their cousins, the bateleur does not seem to shy away from venomous snakes nor other large or formidable reptiles. They have been known to take puff adder (Bitis arietans), boomslangs (Dispholidus typus), Egyptian cobras (Naja haje) and unidentified mambas, with the latter actually reported to be the most prominent known reptile prey in compilation studies, accounting for 18.9% of reported reptile prey and 3.35% of total prey.  However, the bateleur is not immune to venom nor is as well specialized to dispatching venomous snakes as are snake eagles and, in one case, a mutual killing recorded between a puff adder and a bateleur was reported. Sizable, and far from defenseless, if not venomous reptiles known in the prey spectrum may include monitor lizards including Nile (Varanus niloticus) and savannah monitors (Varanus exanthematicus), some terrapins and tortoises and African rock pythons (Python sebae), although excepting small, young ones, these types of reptilian prey are perhaps in many cases consumed after they are already deceased, such as via roadkills. However, live predation of a tortoise by a bateleur was witnessed in one instance. The bateleur known to carry snakes to the nest in the style of ordinary snake eagles, with the dead snake being half swallowed and subsequently extracted by the capturing birds mate, usually the female at the nest. Seldom identified prey may include assorted, and almost entirely unidentified, insects. Mostly swarming social insects seem to attract bateleurs, including locusts. It was recently verified that bateleurs will semi-regularly visit termite mounds to hunt down alates, although such feeding has been inferred in the past. Other prey can include a rare amphibian, none of which are known to be identified to species or family. Although fish are not typically taken, as much as 1.1% of the diet locally can consist of large Clarias catfish and it is likely that stranded fish are not neglected when opportuned upon.


The bateleur seems to adapt to living in the highly competitive continent of Africa by foraging with a lack of specialization, with a seeming lack of discrimination regarding the prey item/food source nor its origin although its highly aerial and free-ranging foraging mode is quite unique. The bateleur, nonetheless, must face considerable and intense competition from other birds of prey especially. The range of other raptors, especially other eagles and vultures,  may appear to be daunting. One of the most similar eagles to regularly encounter the bateleur is the tawny eagle. These two species overlap in many significant ways, being similar in body mass and predatory prowess as well as in nesting habitat, tendency to attack a wide size range of prey (including large prey) and general disposition. Furthermore, both of these eagles show ability to freely change feeding methods between live predation, scavenging on carrion and piracy. In Tsavo East National Park, bateleurs were studied along with tawny eagles, significantly larger martial eagles and slightly smaller African hawk-eagles (Aquila spilogaster). Here all four largish eagles relied primarily upon Kirk's dik dik for food but were mostly slightly staggered in breeding season, with the bateleur nesting on average earlier than the other eagles. The diet was by far most similar with that tawny eagle in Tsavo East, overlapping 66% in prey species and 72% in prey weight. Meanwhile, the diet overlapped 32% in species and 50% in weight with martial eagles and 37% in species and 57% in weight with African hawk-eagles. The one discrepancy, which is noted in other studies as well, is that the bateleur tends to focus on smaller birds than tawny eagles when selecting avian prey. Bateleurs also bear an advantage over tawny eagles in their ability forage in open habitats, with the absence of perches, due to their aerial foraging methods. However, data indicates that the tawny eagles is dominant over bateleurs typically at disputed kills or carrion. One study accrued 26 instances of tawny eagles displacing bateleurs against only 5 where bateleurs displaced tawny eagles, giving illustration to the tawny eagles dominance. Frequently, the bateleur waits until the tawny eagle is done eating before it does so itself if both are at a carcass site.
Bateleurs may encounter a huge range of other scavengers when coming to carrion. Most clearly vultures are often present at carrion. However, due to their smaller size, the tawny eagle and especially the bateleur can begin foraging for carrion earlier in the morning, while the vultures must wait for updrafts to undertake flight. Bateleurs in particular are considered most likely to find a carcass first before other scavengers. This was verified in a study in Maasai Mara where it was additionally found that scavengers kept to body size in terms of hierarchy. The descending order of scavenger dominance was stated to rank starting with the spotted hyenas (Crocuta croctua) at the top and black-backed jackals and feral dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), then the lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos), the Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppellii), followed by all other vultures with the tawny eagle and the bateleur in the second most and the most subordinate scavenger positions. Therefore, the bateleur is considered a scavenger with high search efficiency but low competitive ability. However,  the bateleur does benefit from the larger scavengers, being less able to access a large carcass, at best feeding on the eyes of said carcass unless it is already otherwise torn asunder such as large carnivore prey or roadkills. With the epidemic-level reduction of vultures in Africa, it was found in Maasai Mara that both bateleurs and tawny eagles have been found to actually increase in sighting frequency in sync with the vanishing numbers of remaining vultures, with the number of bateleur sightings increasing by 52%. To the contrary of the expected hierarchy, cases are known where bateleurs have attacked and dominated much larger scavenging birds including white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) and bearded vulures (Gypaetus barbatus), with these having been successfully displaced or lost carrion to a bateleur. Even more impressively, cases where bateleurs interacting with much larger, more powerful martial eagles have involved instances where the bateleurs have attacked, pirated and even brought to ground in clashes that appear to end in a drawl. However, the martial eagle occupies a notably higher trophic level than the bateleurs and is not considered subservient to bateleurs due its even greater predatory prowess. Similarly, instances of considerable competition have been reported between bateleurs and African fish eagles (Haliaeetus vocifer), which are similarly prone to opportunistic piracy and aggressive interspecific relations. However, the two species are partitioned by habitat and primary prey.
It is uncommon-to-rare but not unprecedented that bateleurs may prey on other raptors. Bateleurs have been documented preying on black-winged kites (Elanus caeruleus), wintering lesser spotted eagles (Clanga pomarina), gabar goshawks (Micronisus gabar), barn owls (Tyto alba), spotted eagle-owls (Bubo africanus) and peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus). Additionally, they were considered a likely potential predator upon nestlings of the white-backed vulture. Certainly the most impressive instance of intraguild predation documented as committed by bateleurs is when one was seen killing an adult Verreaux's eagle owl (Bubo lacteus), a formidable top predator among owls and possibly the largest avian prey ever reported for a bateleur. The predators of mature bateleurs themselves are not well-documented and in fact Verreaux's eagle owls may the only species verified to repeatedly prey upon bateleurs, but this is probably due to rare predator identification at bateleur nests. Bateleurs are usually considered apex predators. Bateleur nestlings, especially due to mixed to limited nest defense and frequent abandonment by parent bateleurs, are presumed to be vulnerable to a huge range of predators although very few are properly identified. Based on other eagles in Africa, these are likely to include various sizes of mammalian carnivores, snakes, monitors and various birds of prey, including even perhaps much smaller species and vultures due to the long periods bateleur eaglets are left unprotected.


Bateleurs are long-lived species, slow-maturing, slow-breeding species, Bateleurs court each other or re-establish existing pair bonds what is considered, a “spectacular” courtship display. During the courtship display, an exaggerated flight is undertaken, in which the male dives down at the female who rolls to present him her claws. Additionally, he sometimes flies with legs dangling loosely, during which the wings may be flapped to create a conspicuous whup-whup-whup noise like a loose sail in the breeze. Very infrequently, a male bateleur may make a 360 degree lateral roll, accompanied by loud whup-whup noises, at times display may involve 2 males with a single female, but during breeding only one male is usually actively courtship. A further chasing flight reported is not necessarily nuptial and may be performed by birds of the same size and by an adult or an immature and in some cases is linked to the sociality of the species. The bateleur is usually rather monogamous and likely, with the survivorship of each mate, mates for life. However, rare instances of possible polygyny have been reported. The bateleur breeding season tends to fall from September to May in West Africa, however juveniles have also been recorded in Mauritania in September. Reportedly, the nesting season can be virtually any month in East Africa but chiefly is some time around December–August, which also is the corresponding peak breeding time in Southern Africa, with nesting as late as August to October in the southern stretches of the continent considered unusual. In Somalia, the breeding season however fell from July to December while in Ethiopia there was no detectable peak whatsoever.


Nests are located in fairly large trees, sometimes near a watercourse, either in hilly terrain or open flat country. At times, bateleurs are adaptable and perhaps even favor towards nesting near manmade openings such as roads or paths. Nests are typically at 10 to 15 m (33 to 49 ft) above the ground but in extreme may be from 7 to 25 m (23 to 82 ft) high. The nest is normally within the canopy in the fork of the main trunk or a large lateral branch so that it is shaded for much of the day. A variety of tree species may be used. In southern Africa, favored trees tend to Adansonia and especially Acacia trees. Senegalia nigrescens trees may too be popular. Bateleurs usually nest on structures made by themselves but one nest was reported in on a buffalo weaver nest and was difficult to observe. Furthermore, old nest of other birds may be used, in one case a Wahlberg's eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi) nest taken over and added to deepen it. The nest is a solid structure of medium-sized sticks, measuring about 60 cm (24 in) across, 30 cm (12 in) deep with a leafy cup of about 25 cm (9.8 in) across. Snake eagles and their kin tend to build relatively small if bulky nests relative to their size and the bateleur is no exception, with their nest size being about half that of in diameter of a similarly-sized eagle like the tawny eagle. Nests tend to be lined with green leaves by the bateleur pair. Both sexes of bateleur are known to contribute to the building or repair of a nest, a process that typically takes about 1–2 months, though sometimes nest construction can be reportedly protracted even in years where no breeding occurs. They often subsequently use a new nest in the same general area in consecutive breeding seasons, usually not more than 1 to 3 km (0.62 to 1.86 mi) away, and may reuse a nest they built previously. There is much variation in this regard, from 1 nest being used in 5 consecutive years to no nest reusage in 3 recorded years. Nests built by bateleurs tend to be favored by lanner falcons (Falco biarmicus), probably in part because the eagle's young are fledged by July–August when lanners tend to lay; however 1 nestling was persistently mobbed by a lanner during its last week at the nest. In ranching country in Zimbabwe, nests are spaced 13 to 16 km (8.1 to 9.9 mi) apart. In Mozambique, nesting spacing was found to be about 5 km (3.1 mi).


In this species, only one egg is ever laid. Their eggs are quite large for the size of the bird, being broadly oval and usually an unspotted chalky white but sometimes with a few red stains or indistinct reddish markings, which may be cosmetic from feeding and defecating of the parents. The bateleur’s egg is quite similar in size and coloration to most snake eagles, which also generally lay a single egg. A bateleur egg may measure from 74.2 to 87 mm (2.92 to 3.43 in) in height, with an average of 77.4 mm (3.05 in) in a sample of 24 and 79.1 mm (3.11 in) in a sample of 50, by 57 to 68.1 mm (2.24 to 2.68 in) in diameter, with an average of 62.3 mm (2.45 in) in 24 and 62.7 mm (2.47 in) in 50. The eggs are comparable in size to those of martial and crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus cornatus), eagles of easily up to twice the body size of a bateleur. The female bateleur normally incubates alone, though rarely males are seen to do so as well. The female is fed by the male but takes spells off in which she probably feeds on her own kills and the male may take over incubation, although reports of instances where he may do the majority of incubation are probably inaccurate. While the elastic breeding season suggests an indifference to climatic concerns relative to the wet season and dry season, the bateleur is usually considered an eagle that lays earlier in the year than overlapping eagles. The incubation stage lasts for 52 to 59 days, averaging about 55 days, and may the longest of any African raptor. Reports of incubation lasting for only 42–43 days are probably erroneous.
The hatchling is highly altricial and very feeble at first, perhaps even more so than most other eagles, being unable to lift its own heavy head and possesses a deeply wrinkled cere. The small eaglet is initially covered in creamy down with a chocolate-brown patch behind the eye that matches the rest of the down colour above with creamy flanks. At about 2 weeks, the young eaglet becomes somewhat more active and the down develops a patchy appearance. At 3 weeks, the eaglet has a downy white head but the down colour above is dark brown, with the first brown feathers sprouting on back of head, secondaries and scapulars. By 4 weeks, they no longer have any white down and brown feathers grow especially the back and wing ones; while a week later, the feathers continue emerge and the secondaries outgrow the primaries. Thence at 7 weeks, the feathering of the foreparts occurs rapidly, being complete by 35 days, but the wing and tail feathers are still growing, the last remaining down being on underwing coverts. The young eaglet resembles those of snake eagles in appearance and feather growth pattern, particularly the retarded growth of the primary feathers, and in general coloring become greyer as the eaglet ages. The nestling may first stand at about 5 weeks as well as engage in wing-flapping. Pre-independence juveniles may perch or lie in prone position before they can fly well. The stage at which the young first feeds itself is dictated by what prey is brought; if it is large, the parents will feed the young to 40 days, but small fragments will be eaten unaided by the downy young. Around 6 weeks is when the eaglet can typically feed itself for the first time. At 9 weeks, eaglet bateleurs have been recorded doing effective threat displays against humans. Fledgling typically occurs around 90–125 days with reported extremes at as little as 93 to as much as 194 days. The young often returns to the nest after its first flight and continues to do so. The young bateleurs become independent quickly within about a week in some case and in others remain closely by and dependent on their parents for about 2–4 months. The young bateleurs may follow their parents around in flight until they are fed. Coaxing behaviour by parents has been recorded (keeping away food until they fly to it, perhaps gradually encouraging the young eagle to go farther afield). After leaving the nest area, the young bateleurs often wander widely, for example one was recorded to have covered 1,347 km² (520 sq mi). When soaring near another bateleur nest, young bateleurs are often fiercely attacked by adult males. There are some reports, even frequent reports it is said, of immature bateleurs staying to help incubate the eggs although generally this presumably rare.


When the nest is approached, at times bateleurs will react forcibly, engaging in aggressive barks, sometimes diving down from flight at the intruder with loud flapping wings. When disturbed in this way, however bateleurs very often depart and they will often not return to the nest for up to several hours. Generally, it seem to be more likely than almost any other African eagle to desert their young.  During the incubation and nestling period, the male is more demonstrative than the female at the nest, sometimes doing the distraction display and regular dive-bomb attacks if the nest tree is climbed, the female more commonly flies away in the distance. Once a lone male baboon climbed a nest tree, the female bateleur sat and incubated while the male dive bombed it. When this failed to drive it off, the male settled on a branch between the baboon and the nest and threatened the monkey with raised wings, the baboon was never dislodged but did not harass the eagles at the nest. Bateleur parents are highly sensitive to breeding from human disturbance, oddly they may permit and adapt to regular inspections of the nest but resent an attempts to hide or conceal photographic equipment nearby and regular desert the nest even with a small nestling, thus nest photography should be avoided. The ease with which bateleurs are flushed away from their nest appears to lead to uncommonly high nest predation rates, while many other eagle, including from other parts of the world, either sit tightly on their nest until the danger level becomes too high or attack ferociously at the potential threat. The nestling is careful tended to by female, as she is at the nest 82% of the time up to the time the eaglet is 10 days in one Kenya study, her attendance thence drops to 47% from 10–20 days, then after 30 days, dropped to about 5% and from 60 days about 1%. When the young is at later stages of maturity, the female tends to only engage in very brief prey deliveries. Both sexes bring prey and feed the young though the male takes a bigger share of this than in many eagles. After 30 days, the eaglet is often left by itself on the nest throughout the night. The eaglet is fed nearly every day early on but only every 2–3 days later on, especially after leaving the nest.