Giant pitta
| Giant pitta | ||||||||||||
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Giant pittas ( Hydrornis caeruleus ), pair |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hydrornis caeruleus | ||||||||||||
| ( Raffles , 1822) |
The giant pitta ( Hydrornis caeruleus ) is a passerine bird of the genus Hydrornis within the family of the Pittas (Pittidae). It occurs from Thailand over the Malay Peninsula to Brunei. The International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) classifies the species as potentially endangered ( NT ) due to the destruction of their habitats through deforestation of the rainforests, forest fires etc.
features
The giant pitta reaches a body length of 25 to 28 centimeters.
male
The male has a gray-brown head and front parting, each feather is broadly lined with black. The back part of the head, the nape of the neck and a line that runs from the eye to the sides of the neck are shiny black. The reins are gray with a narrow black band. The stripe above the eyes is gray-brown to gray-white. The head sides are gray-green and brown with fine narrow hems. A crescent-shaped black band runs down the neck. The top of the body is shiny blue. Individuals whose upper body shine is limited to the coat are thought to be birds in their second year of life.
The wings are dark brown, the inner feathers have gray-blue tips. The arm wings are dark brown with gray-blue hems. The wing covers are blue like the top of the body.
The chin and throat are pale gray-brown, the feather between the throat and chest have a black feather base, so that a diffuse dark band is formed. The sides of the chest are washed out greenish, the flanks are gray-green, the rest of the underside of the body is light brown. The under tail-coverts are dark brown, the short tail is dull brown.
female
In the female, the vertex and neck are pale reddish brown to pale chestnut brown. Each individual feather has a narrow black border. A line runs from the eye to the neck. The head sides are pale red-brown with lighter feather shafts. The upper side of the body and the wing coverts are red-brown, only the rump and the upper tail coverts are blue. The control springs are brown, the second and third control spring pairs have a bluish tinge. The chin, throat, and diffuse chest band are like those of the male. The rest of the underside of the body is reddish-brown.
Fledglings
Fledglings have single ocher and dark brown feathers on the top and in the name, which gives them a spotted appearance. The top of the body is dark brown. The throat and chin are whitish, the chest is gray-brown with red-brown borders, the rest of the underside of the body is mottled with pale brown and cream-colored spots. The tail plumage is dull blue. In not yet sexually mature birds (so-called subadults), the back is blue as in the adult male, but it is completely absent. Sub-adult females are a little grayer than adult females.
Possible confusion
The giant pitta can hardly be confused with any other Pitta species due to its size and plumage. A distant similarity exists with the Schneiderpitta ( Hydrornis schneideri ), because both males have blue feathers on the upper side of the body and are gray-brown on the underside. The tailor's pitta, however, has a red-brown cap and is significantly smaller than the giant pitta. The females are much more difficult to tell apart. The female tailor pittas lack the dark neck band. In the Tanintharyi region , the distribution area of the blue pitta ( Hydrornis cyaneus ) overlaps with that of the giant pitta . This species is striated across the underside of the body.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area extends over Brunei , Indonesia , Malaysia , Myanmar and Thailand . It was first sighted in Sumatra in over a hundred years at the beginning of the 21st century, where it was considered extinct up until then.
The giant pitta lives in primary and higher secondary forests up to a height of 1,200 m above sea level. NHN . It prefers densely overgrown, swampy areas, but has also been spotted in drier areas.
Way of life
The giant pitta is one of the shyest types of pitta. If it is startled, it quickly flies a long distance before settling down again. They are also comparatively quiet birds. Their courtship calls can only be heard for a short time at the beginning and end of April and then again in June. Although they call occasionally during the day, the slow and plaintive Howe-er calls are most commonly heard in the morning and evening hours.
The food mainly consists of shell snails. But they also eat frogs and small snakes. They usually use stones as a forge , where they beat the snails held in their beak until the shells burst. They look for food in the layer of leaves lying on the ground by turning over individual leaves with their beak.
Reproduction
The reproductive biology of the giant pitta has not yet been conclusively investigated. So far, hardly any nests of exposed giant pittas have been found, some reports of nests and clutches found are now predominantly assigned to other species. Until 1998, the only scientifically described nest of a giant pitta was vaulted, had a diameter of 21 centimeters and was 32 centimeters high. The entrance to the nest was 14 × 12 centimeters, a platform 18 centimeters long led to this nest entrance. There were two eggs in the nest. Clutches with three eggs are also known in giant pittas that have been kept in captivity. In captivity the breeding season was 15 to 16 days, both parent birds breed. The male's share of the hatchery was about 10 percent greater than that of the female. Both parent birds feed the nestlings and bring food to the nest with an average interval of a little more than 12 minutes. The nestlings, which weighed 9.5 grams when hatched, gained 4.2 grams daily during their first 14 days of life. At the age of 24 days the young birds begin to become independent.
Subspecies
So far, two subspecies are known:
- Hydrornis caeruleus caeruleus ( Raffles , 1822) - The nominate form occurs on the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra .
- Hydrornis caeruleus hosei ( Baker, ECS , 1918) - This subspecies occurs on Borneo .
literature
- Johannes Erritzøe , Helga Erritzoe: Pittas of the World - A Monograph on the Pitta Family . The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge 1998, ISBN 0-7188-2961-1 .
- Thomas Stamford Raffles: Second Part of the Descriptive Catalog of a Zoological Collection made in the Island of Sumatra and its vicinity . In: Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . tape 13 , 1822, p. 277-340 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Edward Charles Stuart Baker: Mr. EC Stuart Baker exhibited some new subspecies of Oriental birds, and made the following remarks . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 39 , no. 237 , 1918, pp. 18-20 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
Web links
- Hydrornis coeruleus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Accessed April 2, 2017th
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Hydrornis caeruleus (Giant Pitta). Accessed April 2, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Erritzoe & Erritzoe: "Pittas of the World". P. 49.
- ↑ a b c d e Erritzoe & Erritzoe: "Pittas of the World". P. 50.
- ↑ Erritzoe & Erritzoe: "Pittas of the World". P. 51.
- ^ IOC World Bird List NZ wrens, broadbills & pittas
- ↑ Thomas Stamford Raffles, p. 301
- ^ Edward Charles Stuart Baker, p. 20