Bar-bellied Pitta

The bar-bellied pitta is a short-tailed forest-floor bird 19–21 cm long. Males have a blue-green crown, broad black band from the lores to the nape, dark green upperparts, violet-blue tail, white upper throat and blue-green breast. The lower underparts are boldly barred yellow and black around a dark blue belly centre. Females have a buff-brown head with a greener central crown and less yellow below; juveniles are spotted dark brown (BirdForum species account).

It is restricted to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, where it inhabits seasonal tropical forest and remains largely terrestrial. Strong legs carry it through leaf litter beneath dense cover, and its liquid, two-part whistle is often more easily detected than the bird itself. Vietnamese photographs and records include Cúc Phương and Cát Tiên national parks, illustrating its occurrence in both northern and southern forest. The species is regarded as resident rather than a long-distance migrant (Wikipedia, general species account; BirdForum and Oiseaux.net species accounts).