Eastern Hooded Pitta
Pitta novaeguineae
Beautiful leaf-green pitta of New Guinea and surrounding islands. Like the other “Hooded-type” pittas with which it was formerly grouped, this species has a black head, powder-blue shoulder patch, and red on the lower belly and undertail. Birds on Numfor Island, off northwestern New Guinea, have a broad deep blue border to the red belly patch. Song is a simple, insistent-sounding “wui, wuii!” with a barking quality.
Taxonomy
The eastern hooded pitta was formally described in 1845 by the German naturalists Salomon Müller and Hermann Schlegel under the binomial name Pitta novaeguineae. This was a replacement name for Pitta atricapilla Quoy and Gaimard, 1830, as the latter name was pre-occupied by Turdus atricapilla Forster, JR, 1781, a junior synonym of Turdus sordidus Müller, PLS, 1776. The eastern hooded pitta was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the hooded pitta (renamed to the western hooded pitta). It is now considered as a separate species based on the significant genetic, morphological and vocal differences.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Pitta novaeguineae
- Authority
- Müller, S & Schlegel, 1845
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pittidae
- Genus
- Pitta
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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Plain grayish mottled duck with a rounded crown. Note plain face lacking the bold stripes of Pacific Black Duck. White wing panels are distinctive in flight compared to purple/green of Pacific Black Duck. Told from female Chestnut Teal by the much paler neck/throat. One of the most common ducks in many waterways, forming enormous flocks numbering in the 1000s.
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