Gurney’s Pitta: The Jewel of Thailand’s Rainforest Floor

The Bird That Came Back from the Dead

In 1952, ornithologists recorded a Gurney’s pitta in Thailand — and then, for 34 years, nothing. The bird was widely written off as extinct, another casualty of the rapid clearing of Southeast Asia’s lowland rainforests.

Then, in 1986, a small team searching the forests of Khao Nor Chuchi in Krabi Province heard an unfamiliar call. The bird they found was a male Gurney’s pitta, glowing blue and black and gold on the forest floor. The rediscovery made headlines around the world and turned the species into a flagship for lowland forest conservation.

Today Gurney’s pitta remains one of the most sought-after birds in Asia — and one of the most threatened. This is the story of a jewel of the rainforest floor, and of the race to keep its forest standing.

What Does Gurney’s Pitta Look Like?

Pittas are sometimes called the jewels of the forest, and Gurney’s pitta is among the most beautiful of all. The male wears a brilliant cobalt-blue crown, a velvet-black face and throat, warm buff-yellow underparts, and deep blue wings and tail set against green-tinged upperparts.

The female is more subdued but still handsome, with a buff-brown crown and plainer face pattern. Both sexes share the typical pitta shape: plump body, strong legs, short tail and an upright, almost comical stance as they hop across the leaf litter.

Useful field marks include:

• Male: blue crown, black face, buff underparts, blue wings and tail • Female: browner crown and face, similar body pattern • A clear, whistled call — often the first clue to a bird’s presence • Secretive behaviour: usually seen hopping on the shaded forest floor

Like other pittas, it feeds by flipping leaves and probing the soil for insects, worms and other invertebrates, and it nests in a domed structure of leaves and twigs on or near the ground.

A Home in the Lowland Forest

Gurney’s pitta is a bird of lowland semi-evergreen rainforest — the tall, shady forest that once clothed much of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. It needs flat or gently sloping ground below about 160 metres, with a closed canopy, moist soil and deep leaf litter.

That precise requirement is the heart of the problem. Lowland forest is exactly the habitat most easily cleared for oil palm and rubber plantations, and very little of it survives in peninsular Thailand. The species’ stronghold at Khao Nor Chuchi shrank dramatically through the 1990s and 2000s as plantations expanded around and into the forest.

In recent years, surveys have confirmed that the larger population actually lies across the border in southern Myanmar, where more lowland forest remains — though logging and agricultural expansion threaten it there too. The species’ global population is now estimated at roughly 1,500 to 3,000 mature individuals, split between the two countries.

Why Gurney’s Pitta Is Still at Risk

The overriding threat is habitat loss. Oil palm and rubber plantations have replaced most of the lowland forest within the pitta’s range, and what remains is fragmented into patches too small or too degraded to support many birds.

Other pressures compound the problem:

1. Continued clearing and logging inside and around remaining forest fragments 2. Road building that opens remote forest to settlement and hunting 3. Trapping for the cage-bird trade, which has targeted pittas in parts of Southeast Asia 4. Climate stress on already small, isolated populations

Because the pitta will not live in plantations or heavily degraded forest, every hectare of lowland rainforest lost is a permanent loss of habitat. There is no substitute landscape for this species.

Conservation: From Rediscovery to Recovery

The 1986 rediscovery triggered a remarkable conservation effort. Khao Nor Chuchi was designated a non-hunting area, and Thai conservation groups — working with international partners — launched research, patrols and community programmes to protect the remaining forest.

Key strands of the work include:

• Forest protection and anti-logging patrols around Khao Nor Chuchi • Reforestation and corridor projects to reconnect forest fragments • Community engagement, including local guiding and alternative livelihoods • Surveys in Myanmar that located the species’ main population and identified priority forests for protection

The discovery of the Myanmar population transformed the species’ outlook: it is still Endangered, but no longer clinging to a single tiny site. Conservationists now work on both sides of the border, and birdwatching tourism at Khao Nor Chuchi gives local people a direct stake in the forest’s survival.

The pitta has also become a symbol of what lowland forest protection achieves — the same forest shelters hornbills, tapirs and countless other species that share its home.

Seeing Gurney’s Pitta Responsibly

Khao Nor Chuchi remains one of the most reliable places in the world to see Gurney’s pitta, particularly in the breeding season when males call at dawn. Local guides know the territories and greatly improve your chances while ensuring the birds are not disturbed.

If you plan a visit, a few principles protect both bird and forest:

• Hire a licensed local guide and follow their instructions • Never use excessive call playback, which stresses territorial birds • Stay on trails and keep noise to a minimum • Support community-based tourism that funds forest protection

Seeing a male Gurney’s pitta hop into a shaft of forest light is an experience birdwatchers remember for life — and your visit can help ensure the species survives.

A Second Chance Worth Taking

Gurney’s pitta was given a second chance in 1986. Four decades on, that chance is still alive — but only just. The species’ future depends on a simple equation: keep the lowland forest standing, and the pitta survives; lose it, and no amount of effort elsewhere will bring the bird back.

If this story has captured your imagination, explore our guides to other forest jewels such as the Sri Lanka frogmouth and the Araripe manakin, and consider supporting the organisations protecting Thailand and Myanmar’s last lowland rainforests. The jewel of the forest floor is still shining — let’s keep it that way.