Show us your little gems- pittas, kingfishers, trogons, broadbills, barbets etc.

[offshorebirder]

I saw this little gem in the Wambaw Swamp Wilderness this morning - a Prothonotary Warbler.   A properly colorful warbler.

 

[Kitsafari]

what a lovely warbler @offshorebirder

[Soukous]

Coppersmith Barbet

Shahpura Bagh, Rajasthan

[Kitsafari]

wow that coppersmith shot is stunning. 

[Kitsafari]

since this thread was revived, i'll share a pair of Red-headed Trogons, Frasers Hill, April 2019

 

Female: 

 

 

female showing its back

 

male: wasn't very co-operative!

[offshorebirder]

21 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

wow that coppersmith shot is stunning. 

 

x2

[inyathi]

I have had the good fortune to have seen nine species of pitta, a reasonable number, but not that many, the actual number of species is yet to be agreed on, the IOC Word Bird List, lists forty-four species, the BirdLife International website has forty eight, the majority of these species occur in tropical and subtropical Asia, three species occur in Australia of these one is endemic, the other two also occur in New Guinea, two species occur in Africa. One species the red-bellied pitta found in eastern Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea and Australia was recently split into thirteen species, some of these species are quite markedly different and some not that different, so not all of these new species are recognised, Wikipedia for example only lists ten, this is the main reason why the number of pitta species is still undecided. The following science paper has illustrations of all of the thirteen possible new species 

 

The number of species and subspecies in the Red-bellied Pitta Erythropitta erythrogaster complex: a quantitative analysis of morphological characters

 

If you want to see a really good number of pitta species, then you need to do a lot of island hopping in that whole region of Indonesia, Philippines and New Guinea.

 

 

African Pitta (Pitta angolensis)

 

Occurs in parts of West, Central, East and Southern Africa, but it is really not an easy bird to see, most of the time it is extremely shy, foraging amongst the leaf litter in dense thickets, the best chance of seeing one is during the breeding season, when the birds are calling, if you know where to look, the Zambezi Valley in Zambia along with parts of Central Mozambique in Nov-Dec, are the best places to find this bird.  

 

 

African pitta, Zambezi Valley, Zambia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bar-bellied Pitta (Hydrornis ellioti)

 

This species is endemic to Indochina occurring in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam and just in Thailand, the best place to see it from one of the bird hides set up in the forest close to Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. 

 

 

 Female, near Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam

 

Male, near Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam

 

Blue Pitta (Hydrornis cyaneus)

 

The blue pitta is a Southeast Asian species found from the far Northeast of India and Bangladesh into Burma, parts of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, like all pittas it is a shy bird, but can still be seen quite easily in Khao Yai or Kaeng Krachan National Parks in Thailand or in this case Bidoup Nui Ba National Park outside Da Lat in Vietnam.

 

Female and male, Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, Da Lat, Vietnam

 

Male

 

Female

 

Male

 

Blue-rumped Pitta (Hydrornis soror)

 

This is a predominantly Indochinese species, found in a small corner of Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam up into southern China including Hainan Island, there are five recognised subspecies, several subspecies can be seen quite easily from hides in and near Cat Tien National Park in the south of Vietnam and in Cuc Phuong National Park in the north of Vietnam.

 

Hydrornis soror soror

 

Female and male, near Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam

 

Male in front, female behind

 

Male Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam

 

Female near Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam

 

Hydrornis soror petersi

 

 

Male Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam

 

 

 

 

Female Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam

 

 

 

Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura)

 

This is one of five species of pitta found in India, as either a migrant or breeding bird it is found throughout much of the Subcontinent, in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it winters in Southwest India and Sri Lanka where it is not too hard to find, the other species that occur in the India Subcontinent are largely confined to the northeast, although the Western Hooded Pitta does occur from the northeast through the Himalayas in Bhutan, Nepal and on into Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh in India.

 

 

Victoria Park, Nuwara Eliya Sri Lanka

 

 

 

Rusty-naped Pitta (Hydrornis oatesi)

 

This is another Southeast Asian species that occurs in Burma, Thailand, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Malaysia and Southern China, it can be seen relatively easily from a hide in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park outside Da Lat in Vietnam

 

 

Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, Da Lat, Vietnam

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

marvellous series of pittas, @inyathi. am i right in assuming you have a second instalment due on the remaining 3 pitta species! i'm looking forward to them.   

[inyathi]

@KitsafariSorry, I'm afraid that is it for pittas, I rewrote my first paragraph and obviously failed to spot, before posting that I had unintentionally removed a sentence, saying that regrettably I only have photos of six of the nine species I've seen, I was surprised when I reread my post today, to see that, this statement was missing. Even though I don't have photos of them, I may as well say that the other three species I've seen, are the blue-winged pitta (Pitta moluccensis), found in Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo, Garnet Pitta (Erythropitta granatina) found in the Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo and Noisy Pitta (Pitta versicolor) found on the East Coast of Australia and the South Coast of New Guinea. 

 

I may not have more pittas to add, but I'm sure in due course, I can find some other birds to add to this topic 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Broadbills are one of my favourite species from Asia. I'll post a handful of these tiny but delightful looking birds that I had seen in Southeast Asia. 

 

Dusky Broadbill, Selangor

Native to Southeast Asia, this species is declining in numbers as deforestation and clearing of wooded areas accelerate. This is a very sociable bird, and a very noisy species too with rather peculiar calls as they call to each other. 

 

 

 

 

heavily cropped

[Kitsafari]

thanks to @lmSA84 for bringing up this thread! somehow I had forgotten to add other broadbills of Southeast Asia. 

 

Banded Broadbill, Malaysia

Also known as the Javan Broadbill by IUCN, the distinctive broadbill is native to the Southeast Asian region, excluding the Philippines. The species is also threatened by the rapid loss of forest cover. 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

Black-and-Yellow Broadbill, Southern Thailand

 

A small species, the black-and-yellow broadbill is one of the more colourful broadbills in the Southeast Asian forests but faces the same threats as its cousins. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Reviving this thread for a handful of new species of pittas that my OH and I saw on our trips in Southeast Asia. 

 

Bornean Banded Pitta, seen in Sabah

Male

 

female

 

Blue-rumped PItta, Vietnam

 

Bar-bellied Pitta, Vietnam - looking bedraggled as it was raining.

 

 

Javan Banded Pitta, Bali

Male

 

female

 

 

 

[janzin]

Wow @Kitsafariamazing pitta photos, especially that first one. Glad you brought this thread up again! I love pittas, I’ve only see two so far. 

[Kitsafari]

The kingfisher species of Southeast Asia -

 

Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher, Vietnam

 

 

Cerulean Kingfisher, Bali 

 

Javan Kingfisher, Bali

 

 

Sacred Kingfisher, Bali

 

 

Stork-billed Kingfisher

 

common Kingfisher

 

 

Edited January 29 by Kitsafari

[Soukous]

7 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

Reviving this thread for a handful of new species of pittas that my OH and I saw on our trips in Southeast Asia. 

 

 

thank you. I don't get to see those birds

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful additions @Kitsafari!