Schneider's Pitta - BirdForum Opus

Female left, male right
Artwork by Leaubellon

Hydrornis schneideri

Identification

• Bright chestnut-orange top of head
• Black eyestripe
• Buffish side of head with black edged feathers
• Shining ultramarine-blue upperparts and tail
• Brown wings
• White chin and throat
• Broken black breast band
• Orangey-buff rest of underparts
• Red-brown to brown eye
• Dark brown bill with paler base and tip
• Light brown feet with purplish tinge

Juvenile
Photo by James Eaton
Gunang Kerinci, Sumatra, Indonesia, June 2006

Females have brown upperparts with blue rump and tail and are generally duller than males.
Juveniles have a dark brown crown and a spotted pale buffish nape, warm brown upperparts, a dark grey-blue tail, a whitish throat and mottled orange-brown underparts mixed with brown.

Distribution

Endemic to the highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia.
A rare, restricted-range species.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species, closely related to Giant Pitta and Blue Pitta.
Formerly placed in genus Pitta.

Habitat

Found in mountain primary forest with dense undergrowth, treefall clearings or near forest edge.
Recent records from 1700m to 2400m. Older records lower.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on large cockroaches and snails, probably also on milipedes and vegetable food.

Breeding

Breeding season possibly from February to June. No nest described yet.

Movements

Presumably a sedentary species with some altitudinal movement.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Dickinson, EC, ed. 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd ed., with updates to October 2008 (Corrigenda 8). Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691117010
3. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
4. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2003. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334504

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Schneider's Pitta. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 7 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Schneider%27s_Pitta

External Links

Search for photos of Schneider's Pitta in the gallery