Gurney's Pitta

The Gurney's Pitta, Pitta gurneyi, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It breeds in Thailand and formerly bred in Myanmar.

This beautiful bird has a blue crown and black-and-yellow underparts. The rest of the head is black, and it has warm brown upperparts. The female has a brown crown and buffy-whitish underparts.

This bird is critically endangered, and stands on the edge of extinction. The population was estimated at nine pairs in 1997. This situation has been caused by the almost total clearance of forest in southern Myanmar and peninsular Thailand.