Noisy Pitta

Overview

The noisy pitta (Pitta versicolor) is a colourful species of bird in the family Pittidae, native to eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is listed as 'Least Concern' on the IUCN Red List and is known for its wide range and relative commonality in suitable habitats, although it may be slowly diminishing due to habitat destruction.

Identification

• Length of 19 to 21 cm with a black head and nape featuring a chestnut crown.
• Green wings with a turquoise front edge and a green back.
• Lemon yellow throat, breast, and belly contrasted with a black tail and orange-red under-tail coverts.
• Distinctive call repeated twice, consisting of three ascending notes often described as 'walk-to-work'.

Habitat

Found in forest habitats along the east coast of Australia, extending from the Torres Strait Islands and Cape York Peninsula south to the New South Wales/Victoria border, and in southern New Guinea. It primarily inhabits temperate, subtropical, and tropical moist lowland and montane forests, though it also occurs in drier woodland and scrub.

Diet

Forages on the forest floor by rummaging through leaf litter for insects, woodlice, snails, and other invertebrates, sometimes including fruit. It cracks open mollusc shells, such as the giant panda snail, on a hard surface or anvil and bashes small lizards before swallowing them.

Did you know?

The species was historically known colloquially as the 'anvil-bird' due to its habit of cracking open the shells of molluscs like the giant panda snail on a stone or other hard surface used as a feeding tool.