Black-faced Pitta - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Masked Pitta; Solomons Pitta

Pitta anerythra

Identification

15 cm

• Rich chestnut crown, rest of head black
• Sky-blue wing-coverts
• Bright green upperparts
• Buff underparts

Pallida has only some chestnut on nape, nigrifrons has a black forehead.
Sexes similar. Juveniles are not yet described.

Distribution

Endemic to the Solomon Islands.
A restricted-range species, no recent records from Bougainville and Choiseul. Found to be quite common on Santa Isabel at Tiritonga.

Taxonomy

There are 3 subspecies:

• P. a. pallida:

• Bougainville (northern Solomon Islands)

• P. a. nigrifrons:

• Choiseul (central Solomon Islands)

• P. a. anerythra:

• Santa Isabel (central Solomon Islands)

May form a superspecies with Elegant Pitta, Noisy Pitta and Rainbow Pitta.

Habitat

Primary and secondary forest, also in scrub and small forest fragments. Occurs from lowlands up to 600m.

Behaviour

Feeds on worms, snails and insects.
The bulky nest is made of leaves and moss. It's placed on or near the ground.
Probably a resident species. Found to be a weak flyer and probably not capable to fly over open water.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Dickinson, EC, ed. 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd ed., with updates to October 2008 (Corrigenda 8). Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691117010
3. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
4. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2003. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334504

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-faced Pitta. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 13 September 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-faced_Pitta

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