Gurney's Pitta
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| Pitta gurneyi Hume, 1875 |
The Gurney's Pitta, Pitta gurneyi, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It breeds in Thailand and Myanmar.
This beautiful bird has a blue crown and black-and-yellow underparts. The rest of the head is black, and it has warm brown upperparts. The female has a brown crown and buffy-whitish underparts.
This bird is critically endangered, and stands on the edge of extinction. The population was estimated at nine pairs in 1997. A search for it in Myanmar in 2003 was successful and discovered the species at four sites with a maximum of 10-12 pairs at one location. This situation has been caused by the almost total clearance of forest in southern Myanmar and peninsular Thailand.
It was thought to be extinct in 1952 but was rediscovered in 1986.
The name of this bird commemorates the English ornithologist John Henry Gurney.
