Alternative name: Phayre's Pitta
- Hydrornis phayrei
Pitta phayrei
Identification
22 cm (8¾ in)
- Plane red-brown above
- Yellow-ochre sides of forecrown, scaled back
- Black central crown and nape
- Dark brown face
- Long black-edged whitish feathers resembling horns on side of crown
- Dark red-brown wings and tail
- Outer tail-feathers with pale band, wing-coverts edged yellow-ochre
- White chin and upper throat
- Rufous-buff rest of underparts with variable amount of black spots
- Brown eye
- Blackish bill
- Flesh-brown to pale brown feet
Females are duller, have more spotted underparts and shorter ear-tufts.
Juveniles are duller than females, with fewer spots below and a yellow base of lower mandible and tip of bill.
Distribution
Locally in northeast Bangladesh, in central and southeast Burma, in Thailand, east to south China and south to Indochina (Cambodia, Vietnam).
Widespread but rare in its range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Formerly placed in genus Pitta. Sometimes also placed in the monotypic genus Anthocincla[4].
Habitat
Lowland damp rainforest, second growth, bamboo and mixed deciduous forest.
Usually in drier areas than Blue Pitta. Most common in lowlands below 900m but occurs up to 1830m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on snails and probably different invertebrates.
Forages on ground among leaf litter and rotten wood of fallen tree trunks. Searches more static for food than other pittas.
Breeding
Breeding recorded from April to August in Burma, juveniles were seen in late October in Thailand. The globular nest has a side entrance and is made of roots, leaves and grass. Lays 4 eggs.
A resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- 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
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- 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
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Eared Pitta. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Eared_Pitta
