Rusty-naped Pitta

Overview

The rusty-naped pitta is a species of bird in the family Pittidae, first described by Allan Octavian Hume in 1873 from specimens collected in the eastern Pegu Range, Myanmar. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• Males possess a deep brown head and underparts with dull green wings.
• A well-defined black stripe is present behind the eyes on the male.
• Females are duller than males, exhibiting brownish tingeing on the wings and vague dark scaling on the lower throat.

Habitat

Native to Indochina and adjacent parts of southern China, the species inhabits subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forests, as well as bamboo forests above an elevation of 800 m. Its range spans from east Myanmar and northeast Laos to southeast China, central and south Laos, south Vietnam, and the central Malay Peninsula.

Did you know?

The specific epithet oatesi was chosen to honour the amateur ornithologist Eugene William Oates, who collected the original specimens used to describe the species.