Ok - Dutch Birding

notes on asian-pacific birds
dochina . Delacour (1928) described this Pitta as `one of the most beautiful and
rarest birds in Asia' but it was subsequently reported as being abundant at
Thua Luu and Phuqui (central and northern Annam), restricted to elevations
below 400 m (Delacour & Jabouille 1929) .
Despite this apparent abundance almost 60 years ago, Elliot's Pitta was listed
in the ICBP world checklist of threatened birds (Collar & Andrew 1988) . One only
has to refer to the fate of Gurney's Pitta, once common in southern Burma
and Thailand (Collar et al 1986), to justify the urgency of a survey of Pittidae
in view of the staggering loss of habitat in war-torn Indochina and the rapidly
continuing deforestation, particularly in Viet Nam .
During a visit to Europe in 198 6 by the Vietnamese ornithologists Vo Quy and
Le Dien Duc from the University of Ha Noi, contacts were established which
resulted in a visit to Viet Nam in April-July 1988 by a group including British and
Dutch ornithologists, to study pheasants and pittas . During surveys of remaining
habitat at Cuc Phuong National Park (Ha Nam Ninh), Ky Son (Nghe Tinh)
and Kon Ha Nung (Gia Lai-Kon Tum), Elliot's Pittas were found in numbers,
both in primary as well as in disturbed forest, and up to higher altitudes than
previously known . Thus, the species fortunately appears to be considerably
less threatened than assumed until recently . The accompanying photographs
(the first ever published of this species) were taken at the nest of a pair that was
incubating three eggs, the first nest and eggs of the species to be documented
(Rozendaal in prep) .
The authors' fieldwork was supported by the Dutch Society for the Protection
of Birds. World Wildlife Fund (Netherlands), Oriental Bird Club and the
Netherlands Foundation for International Nature Protection .
refere nce s
Collar, N J & Andrew, P 1988 . Birds to watch: the IC6P world checklist of threatened birds . Int
Counc Bird Preserv techn publ 8, Cambridge .
Coilar, N J, Round, P Q& Weils . D R 1986. The past and future of Gurney's Pitta Pirta gurneyi .
Forktail 1 : 29-51 .
Delacour, J 1928. A collection of living birds from central Annam . Avic Mag 4 : 212-216 .
Delacour, J & Jabouilie, P 1929. Les brèves de I'Indochíne FranGaise (Pittidae) . O.seau Rev
Fr Ornithol 10 : 113-122 .
Lekagul, B & Cronin, E W Jr 1974 . Bird guide of Thailand . Second edition . Bangkok .
Mayr, E 1986. Family Pittidae. In : Traylor, M A . Checklist of birds of the world 8. Cambridge,
USA Pp 310-32 9
Round, P D& Treesucon, U 1986. The rediscovery of Gurney's Pitta Pitta gurneyi . Forktail 2 :
Whitehouse, S 1988 . Locating pittas in Thailand & Peninsular Malaysia . Birding World 1 :
278-284 .
Wolters, H E 1980. Die Vogelarten der Erde . E;ne systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben
sowie deutschen und englischen Namen . Hamburg .
18
Frank G Rozendaal, c% Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie,
P 0 Box 9517 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
Nguyen Cu, Institute of ecology and biological resources, National center
for scientffic research in Viet Nam, Ngia Do-Tu Liem, Ha Nor, Viet Nam