Pitta - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

The pittas are generally birds of tropical forests, semi-forests and scrub. Of particular importance to most species are forests with lots of cover, a rich understory, and leaf litter for feeding. Pittas often frequent areas near waterways as well. Some species inhabit swamps and bamboos forests, and the Mangrove Pitta, as its name suggests, is a mangrove specialist. A number of species are lowland forest specialists, for example the Rainbow Pitta is not found above 400 m (1,300 ft), whereas other species may occur at much higher elevations, for example Rusty-naped Pittas have been found up to 2,600 m (8,500 ft). This varies in the Fairy Pitta across its range, reaching up to 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in Taiwan but at much lower levels in Japan. In addition to natural habitats pittas may use human altered habitats, for example migrating Blue-winged Pittas and Hooded Pittas use parks and urban gardens in Singapore.

The greatest diversity of pittas are found in South-east Asia. Of the three recently proposed genera, the large genus Pitta is the most widespread. The two species found in Africa are from this clade, as are the most northerly species (the Fairy Pitta) and the most southerly (the Noisy Pitta). The most remote insular endemics are in this group as well, including the Black-faced Pitta, which is endemic to the Solomon Islands. The pittas of the clade Erythropitta are mostly found in Asia with one widespread species, the Red-bellied Pitta, reaching the north of Australia. The Hydrornis pittas are exclusively Asian. Some pittas have large distributions, like the Hooded Pitta, which ranges from Nepal to New Guinea, others have much smaller ones, like the Superb Pitta, which is endemic to the tiny island of Manus in the Admiralty Islands.

The movements of pittas are poorly known and notoriously difficult to study. Bird ringing studies have not shed much light on this, one study in the Philippines ringed 2000 Red-bellied Pittas but only recaptured ten birds, and only one of these recaptures was more than two months after the initial capture. Only four species of pitta are fully or mostly migratory, all in the genus Pitta, the Indian Pitta, African Pitta, Fairy Pitta and Blue-winged Pitta. In addition to these four the northern subspecies of the Hooded Pitta (cucullata) is a full migrant. Other species make smaller or more local, and poorly understood, movements across small parts of their range.