Garnet Pitta

Garnet Pitta by Ck Leong

It has taken me a long time to get reacquainted with the wonderful bird.  After the Pitta granatina was split in 1996 (Lambert), I have been trying to see this bird which retained the common name of Garnet Pitta.  Last year, during a visit to Kalimantan, my luck came up and spotted it in the lowland forest of the Sungai Wain Protected Forest near Balikpapan.  Its behavior reminded me of its now northern Bornean cousin Pitta ussheri.  Both are great looking  jewels of the forest floor.