Noisy Pitta

Noisy Pittas (Pitta versicolor) are mostly found in rainforest and near the coast in littoral rainforests and vine thickets (1) where they forage in deep litter on the forest floor. In spite of their bright colours they are unobtrusive in the low light of rainforests and are also somewhat shy, making them easy to overlook. Their loud, far carrying and distinctive “walk-to-work” call is often the first indication of their presence, however they do not call much in the non-breeding season.

Noisy Pittas are altitudinal migrants spending winter near the coast and in lowland areas and moving to higher elevation rainforests over spring and summer when they breed. 

I recently found an immature male Noisy Pitta in the Brunswick Heads Nature Reserve littoral rainforest. 

Please click on photos to enlarge.

The Pitta was foraging on the ground in deep litter where it was hard to follow and photograph through the tangle of branches and vines.

I moved slowly off the track and into the scrub – fortunately on my approach the bird flew up to a branch at about my head height and not too far away from where it observed me closely as I took photos. The light was low and even at ISO3200 I still only had 1/40 and 1/50 shutter speed though I managed to get fairly crisp shots for the following photos.

The bird, while in full adult male plumage, has a pinkish gape making it a first year immature from last breeding season. Pittas are distinctive with a relatively large bill, rotund body, very short tail and moderately long legs, however it is their bright multi coloured plumage that sets them apart on the dark forest floor.

It was pleasing to get some photos of this shy species – the immature bird may have been a little less wary!

Note (1) From Wikipedia

The Littoral Rainforests of New South Wales is a group of fragmented and endangered ecological communities found by the coast in eastern Australia. Much of this seaside form has been destroyed by mining, tourist development or housing. It is threatened by extinction in the near future. 90% of the 433 sites are less than ten hectares in size. Littoral rainforest amounts to 0.6% of the rainforests in New South Wales.

The littoral rainforests of Australia extend from North Queensland to Victoria and many offshore islands, with a minority found within New South Wales.