Pittas are a family, Pittidae, of passerine birds found in Asia, Australasia and Africa. There are 44 species of pittas, all similar in general appearance and habits. The pittas are Old World suboscines, and their closest relatives among other birds are in the genera Smithornis and Calyptomena. Initially placed in a single genus, as of 2009 they have been split into three genera: Pitta, Erythropitta and Hydrornis. Pittas are medium-sized by passerine standards, at 15 to 25 cm (5.9–9.8 in) in length, and stocky, with strong, longish legs and long feet. They have very short tails and stout, slightly decurved bills. Many have brightly coloured plumage.
The asities are a family of birds, Philepittidae, that are endemic to Madagascar. The asities consist of four species in two genera. The Neodrepanis species are known as sunbird-asities and were formerly known as false sunbirds.
The Helm Identification Guides are a series of books that identify groups of birds. The series include two types of guides, those that are:
Calyptomena is a genus containing three green birds in the broadbill family Calyptomenidae that are found in Southeast Asia.
Pitta is a genus of birds in the Pittidae, or pitta family. They are secretive, brightly coloured birds that forage on the forest floor. They are long-legged and short-tailed with rounded wings. They all have green on their upperparts with blue wing-patches. Many have dark heads. Nest construction, incubation and rearing of nestlings is performed by both parents. Incubation is completed in some 17 days, and the nestlings are altricial and nidicolous. Some species are migratory.
The fairy pitta is a small and brightly colored species of passerine bird in the family Pittidae. Its diet mainly consists of earthworms, spiders, insects, slugs, and snails. The fairy pitta breeds in East Asia and migrates south to winter in Southeast Asia. Due to various habitat and anthropogenic disruptions, such as deforestation, wildfire, hunting, trapping, and cage-bird trade, the fairy pitta is rare and the population is declining in most places. Listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II, this bird is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Eurylaimus is a genus of broadbills found in Southeast Asia.
The velvet asity is a species of bird in the family Philepittidae. It is endemic to Madagascar.
The African pitta 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.
The blue pitta is a species of bird in the family Pittidae found in the northeastern Indian subcontinent, southern China, and Indochina. It typically lives in moist forests but can also inhabit dry forest. It is an unobtrusive, solitary bird which feeds by foraging on the ground for insects and other small invertebrates.
The blue-winged pitta is a passerine bird in the family Pittidae. It forms a superspecies with three other pittas, the Indian pitta, the fairy pitta and the mangrove pitta. A colourful bird, it has a black head with a buff stripe above the eye, a white collar, greenish upper parts, blue wings, buff underparts and a reddish vent area. Its range extends from India to Malaysia, Indonesia, southern China and the Philippines. Its habitat is moist woodland, parks and gardens and it avoids dense forest. It feeds mainly on insects and worms. It breeds in the spring, building an untidy spherical nest on the ground, often near water and between tree roots. A clutch of about five eggs is laid and incubated by both parents, hatching after about sixteen days.
The rusty-naped pitta is a species of bird in the family Pittidae.
The green-breasted pitta is a species of bird in the family Pittidae. It is one of only two Pitta species in Africa, and is found in deep forest of the tropics.
The graceful pitta, sometimes alternatively known as the black-crowned pitta, is a species of bird in the family Pittidae. It occurs in Sumatra in Indonesia, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The black-crowned antpitta is a species of bird in the gnateater family, Conopophagidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist foothill forests.
Grauer's broadbill, also known as the African green broadbill, is a species of bird in the family Eurylaimidae, and is monotypic within the genus Pseudocalyptomena. Its name commemorates the German zoologist Rudolf Grauer who collected natural history specimens in the Belgian Congo.
The silver-breasted broadbill is a species of bird in the broadbill family, Eurylaimidae that is found in parts of Southeast Asia. There are seven currently recognised subspecies; the other species in the genus Serilophus, the grey-lored broadbill, was also previously treated as being a subspecies of this species.
Eurylaimides is a clade of passerine birds that are distributed in tropical regions around the Indian Ocean and a single American species, the sapayoa. This group is divided into five families. The families listed here are those recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).
Hydrornis is a genus of pitta in the family Pittidae. The genus contains thirteen species, found in South-east Asia. The genus was formerly merged with the genus Pitta, but a 2006 study split the family into three genera.
The Biak hooded pitta is a passerine bird in the pitta family Pittidae that is endemic to the island of Biak, northwest of New Guinea.
