Eared Pitta

Hydrornis phayrei

Haunts the leaf litter of Southeast Asian rainforests and is heard far more often than it's ever seen.

Population: Global population size not quantified; described as rare to very rare in most localities (occasionally locally common), with population trend tentatively assessed as decreasing due to habitat loss (per BirdLife/IUCN 2018 assessment)
Habitat: Subtropical/tropical moist lowland and montane evergreen forest and secondary growth, from lowlands up to about 1,830 m elevation; strongly forest-dependent, terrestrial and diurnal
Fun fact: The Eared Pitta is the only species in the otherwise brilliantly colored pitta family with entirely cryptic, camouflaged plumage in both sexes; males also grow elongated blackish supercilium ("eyebrow") feathers that protrude up to an inch past the back of the head (the occiput), giving the species its "eared" name — a trait once considered primitive enough to place it in its own genus, Anthocincla.
Range: Southeast Asia: resident in Cambodia, southern China (mainland/Yunnan), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam; non-breeding vagrant to Bangladesh; non-migratory (sedentary), Indo-Malay biogeographic region, occupying roughly 927,700 km²
Diet: Ground-foraging invertivore — forages on the forest floor/leaf litter for insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates (snails)
Size: 0.22 m
Wingspan: 0.3 m
Lifespan: 10.7 years

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