Description

The Noisy Pitta is a 100g bird with brightly coloured plumage, displaying brilliant turquoise on the shoulder and over the tail. It has a short tail and spends most of its time hopping on the ground foraging for insects, snails and fallen fruits. They will use an “anvil” to break snail shells open and will form middens around their favoured stone or piece of wood. Noisy Pittas are the most widespread and familiar of the pittas in Australia. This said they are shy and can be difficult to get close to in the wild. When they are not foraging, they usually perch on a fallen log or rock less than one meter off the ground. Noisy Pitta are a solitary species and are usually only found singly or in pairs. Their call sounds like “walk to work” and can be heard at quite a distance. During the breeding season, they will perch higher in the canopy to project their call to prospective mate in surrounding territories. (Higgins et al, 2001)

Habitat and Distribution

They are found along the coast of eastern Australia from the islands in the Torres Strait to the Hunter region of NSW (Higgins et al, 2001). Occasionally they are seen further south, through Sydney and the Illawarra but these sightings are fairly infrequent(Higgins et al, 2001 ). Noisy Pittas are associated with Subtropical/Tropical Moist Forest, Lowland Forest and Montane. This is important breeding habitat for them. Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove vegetation above high tide level as well as Subtropical/Tropical Dry shrubland and urban areas are used outside of the breeding season and as passage between more suitable habitats.

BirdLife International 2012. Pitta versicolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 14 January 2015.

Conservation Status

This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be rare in New South Wales and locally moderately common in Queensland.

BirdLife International 2012. Pitta versicolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 14 January 2015.

Diet

Noisy Pittas are omnivorous and will eat insects, snails, worms, lizards, spiders, isopods and other small animal as well as fruit. They hop around of the forest floor turning over leaves and twigs. Snails will be broken up on piece of rock or wood with a consistent manner. This way they are able to keep the whorl intact and makes eating the soft flesh easier. Some rocks have been found to have extensive weathering, showing that the site may be used over many years. They will also bang small invertebrates against a log several times before being swallowed. Fruit only makes up a small part of their diet and mainly includes figs, blueberry ash and berries. (Higgins et al, 2001)

Breeding and Lifecycle

The breeding season for the Noisy Pitta is between September and March, though this does vary over the range of the species. In the north of their distribution the breeding season starts and finishes earlier than in the south of their range. The nest is mainly built by the male and is usually positioned between the buttress roots of a large fig. The nest is a rough dome, resembling a messy pile of stick to camouflage the nest from any predators. The nest is lined with grasses. Clutch size is four and the eggs are incubated for 17 days starting after the second egg is laid. The chicks will fledge at between 17 and 20 days and are usually weaned within two weeks. The male may continue to feed the chicks while the female starts a new clutch. If the conditions are favourable, Noisy Pittas can have up to three clutches per season however two clutches are more usual. The chicks are mainly raised on small vertebrate and invertebrate prey with the size increasing as the chicks grow. The chicks produce faecal sacs straight after being fed so that the parents can remove their waste easily from the nest. The sac is either eaten or deposited far from the next to distract predators (Higgins et al, 2001).

References

BirdLife International 2012. Pitta versicolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 14 January 2015.

Higgins, P.J., J.M. Peter and W.K. Steele. (Eds) 2001. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Volume 5: Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.