Behaviour and Ecology
Pittas are diurnal, requiring light in order to find their often cryptic prey. They are nevertheless often found in darker areas and are highly secretive, though they will respond to imitations of their calls. They are generally found as single birds, with even young birds not associating with their parents unless they are being fed. Small groups have been observed during migration.
The pittas are strongly territorial, with territories varying in size from 3000 m² in the African Pitta to 10,000m² in the Rainbow Pitta. Pittas will perform territory defence displays on the edges of their territories, although fights between rivals have only been recorded once. Migratory species will defend non-breeding feeding territories in addition to their breeding ones.
Read more about this topic: Pitta
Famous quotes containing the words behaviour and, behaviour and/or ecology:
“... into the novel goes such taste as I have for rational behaviour and social portraiture. The short story, as I see it to be, allows for what is crazy about humanity: obstinacies, inordinate heroisms, “immortal longings.””
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“The methodological advice to interpret in a way that optimizes agreement should not be conceived as resting on a charitable assumption about human intelligence that might turn out to be false. If we cannot find a way to interpret the utterances and other behaviour of a creature as revealing a set of beliefs largely consistent and true by our standards, we have no reason to count that creature as rational, as having beliefs, or as saying anything.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“... the fundamental principles of ecology govern our lives wherever we live, and ... we must wake up to this fact or be lost.”
—Karin Sheldon (b. c. 1945)