Alternative name: Wallace's Elegant Pitta
- Pitta concinna
Identification
19cm
- Black head and hindneck with reddish-buff lateral crownstripe becoming white and then pale blue behind eye
- Dark green upperparts
- Turquoise-blue rump
- Black tail with green tip
- Black chin and upper throat
- Warm cinnamon-buff underparts
- Black patch on central belly, red vent
- Large turquoise-blue patch on lesser coverts, black flight-feathers, white patch at base of primaries, secondaries with bluish and green edges
- Black bill
Sexes similar. Juveniles are duller, have less blue feathers in wing, a pinkish lower belly and an orange-red tip of bill.
Similar species
Elegant Pitta may overlap in non-breeding season and is then recognized by much less black in breast area and more uniform supercilium. If singing, the song is also different.
Distribution
Found inn the Lesser Sundas (Nusa Penida, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Adonara, Lomblen and Alor islands)
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Ornate Pitta and Banda Sea Pitta were formerly included in Elegant Pitta.
Habitat
Quite diverse but more frequent in forest edge and selectively logged forest. Can be found in small patches of habitat also near humans. Found from near sea level to montane heights.
Behaviour
Poorly known, but likely to feed mainly on invertebrates.
Vocalisation
Different from other members of the Elegant Pitta complex. Alarm call is a nasal single note, while song is a two-note whistle where the second part is faster and higher pitch.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Eaton, JA, B van Balen, NW Brickle, FE Rheindt 2021. Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago (Greater Sundas and Wallacea), Second Edition. Lynx Editions. ISBN978-84-16728-44-2#Kirwan, G. M., J. Erritzoe, and E. de Juana (2021). Ornate Pitta (Pitta concinna), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.elepit2.02
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Ornate Pitta. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ornate_Pitta
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
