African Pitta

The African pitta (Pitta angolensis) is an Afrotropical bird of the family Pittidae. It is a locally common to uncommon species, resident and migratory in the west, and an intra-African migrant between equatorial and southeastern Africa. They are elusive and hard to observe despite their brightly coloured plumage, and their loud, explosive calls are infrequently heard. The plump, somewhat thrush-like birds forage on leaf litter under the canopy of riparian or coastal forest and thickets, or in climax miombo forest. They spend much time during mornings and at dusk scratching in leaf litter or around termitaria, or may stand motionless for long periods. Following rains breeding birds call and display from the mid-canopy. == Taxonomy == The African pitta was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 and given the binomial name Pitta angolensis. Vieillot had introduced the genus Pitta in another book published in the same year. Three subspecies are recognised: P. a. pulih Fraser, 1843 – Sierra Leone to west Cameroon P. a. angolensis Vieillot, 1816 – southwest Cameroon to northwest Angola P. a. longipennis Reichenow, 1901 – southeast Democratic Republic of the Congo to southwest Tanzania and south to northeast South Africa. Migrates outside…