PITTIDAE

BLUE-BANDED PITTA

Location : Tawau Sabah
Date : 5 August 2022

15 cm in length, Erythropitta arquata or commonly known as the blue-banded pitta is a species of bird in the Pittidae family. It is found in Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia where it is endemic to the island of Borneo (Philipps, 2014). Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.The blue-banded pitta has scarlet forehead to the nape and sides of its neck, sky-blue postocular (behind its eyes) stripe, dark green-blue upperparts (which distinguish it from other Bornean pittas), with a narrow sky-blue line on its wings. It also has orange-rufous cheeks and throat and rest of its underparts are scarlet with sky-blue breastband appearing like a necklace. The females are similar but their upperparts are dark olive-green and their tails grey-blue. The juveniles are plain brown, mottled grey-brown and buffish on sides of the head and throat. This species feeds on ants and other insects