When writing about pittas, even the usually slightly reserved HBW sounds extra wish to a teenage Taylor Swift fan than a impartial scientist:
“Elusive jewels of Asian forests, these hanging passerines are adorned in among the purest colours of any chook …”
… which is instantly adopted by the warning “… but their shyness makes them invisible to all however essentially the most decided, or luckiest, observer.”
In South Vietnam (at Cat Tien, Dilinh, Tan Phu, and Dalat, to be exact), strategically positioned chook blinds help these birders who don’t wish to rely solely on their luck or persistence. And so, I managed to see three of the 4 pitta species attainable on this space. And as I had simply seen the Rusty-naped Pitta in Yunnan a couple of months earlier, it was not a terrific loss for me both.
Each Cat Tien and Tan Phu have the hanging Bar-bellied Pitta.
The male is a little more into blue whereas the feminine prefers orange.
Its scientific title Hydrornis elliotii refers to Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835-1915), a US ornithologist and a little bit of a traitor, if his obituary is to be believed:
“His major curiosity for a few years was ornithological … over the last 20 years he devoted his time to the research of mammals, which grew to become virtually completely the topic of his researches”.
The breeding biology of this and the following pitta are lined in a downloadable poster which sadly is sort of as colorfully designed because the pittas themselves.
Other than the design of the poster, the content material can be considerably miserable – solely 2 out of 30 pitta nests had been discovered to achieve success.
And other than reptiles, mammals had been the primary predators – which displays badly on Mr. Elliot, in fact.
Outdoors of a weblog put up on pittas, no one would name the Blue-rumped Pitta modest-looking, however in response to an outdated Chinese language proverb that I simply made up, “Among the many three-eyed, a two-eyed is considered blind”.
The blue nape of the male is way brighter than within the subspecies present in Yunnan. Level for Vietnam.
Whoever gave this pitta its title doesn’t deserve any award for creativity – the soror within the title Hydrornis soror means sister, or figuratively “intently associated, allied, comparable, smaller”.
Just like what?
Based on the HBW, this pitta feeds on snails and makes use of rocks and stones as anvils to smash their shells.
The HBW entry additionally has the encouraging assertion “Not identified to be hunted by native individuals for meals or repeatedly caught for cagebird commerce” – it’s listed as Least Concern.
The male Blue Pitta is far more intensely blue than the feminine.
Or to cite eBird: “Solely the male of this rotund ground-dweller is really blue; the feminine solely has a touch of blue on the rump and tail”
I like the best way this and different pittas dig within the soil to search for meals, like thrushes, and with the identical perspective that mixes each power and contempt. Should you had been as stunning as this male, you’ll really feel the identical about having to dig for meals.
Fortuitously, like the opposite two pittas described on this put up, the Blue Pitta can be listed as Least Concern.
