Bismarck Pitta
Erythropitta novaehibernicae
A long-legged, plump-bodied, mostly ground-dwelling bird with a bright red belly, dark blue wings, a greenish back, a bright red collar, a darker red crown, a light blue chest, and a brownish face. Resident in primary forest and forest edge habitats. Unique within its range. Voice is a low, trembling, raspy double-noted whistle, “croooo-eeeee.”
Taxonomy
The Bismarck pitta was formally described in 1878 by the Australian zoologist Edward Pierson Ramsay from a specimen that had been collected on the island of New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago. He placed it in the genus Pitta' and coined the binomial name Pitta novaehibernicae. The Bismarck pitta is now placed in the genus Erythropitta that was introduced 1854 in by Charles Lucien Bonaparte.<p>Four subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Erythropitta novaehibernicae
- Authority
- (Ramsay, EP, 1878)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pittidae
- Genus
- Erythropitta
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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