There are two species of pittas on Halmahera. One is the North Moluccan Pitta, Erythropitta rufiventris.
It is without doubt one of the 14 species within the genus Erythropitta and appears fairly just like lots of the different pittas on this genus. The unifying characteristic of the genus is their pink stomach, unsurprisingly, as eruthros means pink, and pitta means, properly, pitta.
And for these a bit gradual on the uptake, the species identify rufiventris means red-bellied.
Whereas it’s listed as Least Concern, its vary suffers from logging and agricultural enlargement in addition to trapping for the cagebird commerce.
For movies of the species, see right here and right here (consists of the chicken making its attribute name) and right here.
The above is the subspecies Erythropitta rufiventris rufiventris (indicating for a 3rd time within the identify that the chicken is pink, hmm). On Ternate, there may be one other subspecies, Erythropitta rufiventris cyanonota (cyanonota means dark-blue-backed) – it’s proven under.
Nevertheless, I discover the distinctions between the subspecies as proven within the HBW a lot clearer than these between the person birds I noticed in each areas.
The second pitta species on Halmahera, the Ivory-breasted Pitta, seems much more distinctive.
It’s a species in one other pitta genus, the one unimaginatively named Pitta.
Whereas one would suppose that the Big Pitta (not proven right here) needs to be the most important pitta, it’s in reality the Ivory-breasted Pitta …
… as prompt by the scientific identify Pitta maxima.
In distinction to the standard entries within the HBW, the one on this species really reveals a specific amount of enthusiasm for the species described: “Even amongst a household of famously colourful and charismatic species, the Ivory-breasted Pitta (Pitta maxima) stands out within the crowd”.
The species might have a barely higher likelihood of surviving than different pittas as in response to the HBW, it’s much less reliant on main forest and has been recorded from all forest sorts and even some cultivated areas.
A drawing of the Ivory-breasted Pitta by John Gould might be discovered right here – not his finest work, I feel. However there may be so little scientific info on the species that I’ve to make use of this bit as properly so as to have the ability to present sufficient images.
Each the North Moluccan Pitta and the Ivory-breasted Pitta mentioned listed below are threatened by elevated Nickel mining, primarily by Chinese language firms. The truth is, should you take a look at older Halmahera journey studies, you will discover that birders used to remain on the Weda Resort – this place has closed down because the proprietor bought the place to a Nickel mining firm. As Nickel is a vital uncooked materials for EV batteries and annual demand is rising at about 8% per 12 months, this menace to Halmahera birds is more likely to enhance additional.
