Green-breasted Pitta
Pitta reichenowi
A spectacular short-tailed upright bird with a distinctive bottle-green breast, a black-and-buff head, a white throat, a scarlet belly, and shiny blue-spotted wings and rump. A scarce resident of dense lowland forest, usually skulking in pairs in leaf litter on the forest floor. Breeding birds call and display in the canopy. Most often found when giving a di-syllabic “brrr-rrrt” wing drum display as the male hops up, lasting less than a second; also gives a bell-like whistled “huuu” call. African Pitta is similar to Green-breasted but has a warm buffy breast.
Identification
The plumage is very similar to that of the African pitta, but the breast is green and the throat is bordered by a black line. Immatures have duller, darker plumage, and a brownish olive breast.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pitta reichenowi
- Authority
- Madarász, G, 1901
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pittidae
- Genus
- Pitta
Range and habitat
It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Gabon, and Uganda. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. In Uganda however, it occurs at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,400 metres (3,300 and 4,600 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Carp's Tit
Melaniparus carpi
A black tit with a mostly white wing and outer tail. The sexes are similar, but females are slightly duller and browner. Found in arid savanna and mopane woodland. Usually in pairs or small groups, which are loud and conspicuous. Call is a classic tit “chee-chi-chi-chi-chi,” raspy and often repeated. Overlaps very locally with the very similar Southern Black-Tit in northern Namibia. Carp’s Tit can be identified by its all-black rather than white-barred undertail, and by having more white in the wing.
Splendid Astrapia
Astrapia splendidissima
A long-tailed bird of montane forest. Black back and white base to the upper tail, more extensive in the male. Male has iridescent blue-green underparts, head and bib with rufous breast band and thin, rufous stripe down the side of the neck. Female has a black head and a barred belly. Feeds on fruit and searches for insects on mossy branches and epiphytes. Range of Ribbon-tailed Astrapia may just meet, but Splendid Astrapia female has white in the base of the upper tail. Call, a clicking sound.
Blue-throated Bee-eater
Merops viridis
A bright green insect hunter with a long bill and triangular starling-like wings. Adult has a bright blue throat, orange-brown crown and nape, and long trailing central tail feathers. Sexes are alike. Juveniles have a paler blue throat, no orange-brown coloration, and no long tail extensions. Often hunts from exposed perches such as telephone lines or snags, on which it rubs its venomous quarry so as to disarm it. Call is a bright, inflected “chileep.”
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