An iridescent bright red belly pops from a bird wearing a highly distinctive snow-white vest!

Meet the Ivory-breasted Pita

The ivory-breasted pitta (Pitta maxima) is a relatively large, long-legged, largely terrestrial, plump forest bird wearing a highly distinctive, striking, red patch on its lower belly. What makes this red patch stand out even is that it is surrounded by white which extends from the lower throat, and chest onto the flanks. The upperside is black with silvery-blue shoulder patches, with a similarly colored bordering the top of the red patch.

Juvenile birds are somewhat dull when compared to their adult counterparts, with buff on the underparts.

Highly vocal, these birds can frequently be heard singing with a mournful wolf whistle.

“Ivory-breasted Pitta – Pitta maxima” by billbacon1968 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The Ivory-breasted pitta is s endemic to North Maluku in Indonesia.

Their natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forested regions.

Screenshot via Youtube/Sultan Birding Tours

Shy birds, they are more often heard than seen. Little is known about their diet, though it is likely they forage on the ground looking for earthworms and caterpillars.

Rarely seen the breeding behavior of the Ivory-breasted pitta is not well studied, but nests containing single eggs have been observed from May through to July.

The Ivory-breasted Pitta is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

Screenshot via Youtube/Amazing Planet!

You can see this bird right here in the video below:

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