After a superb voyage but less than successful birding trip through the Raja Ampat and north Moluccan islands of Indonesia in November, there was a reward for three of us on the island of Halmahera on the last day. A local bird guide collected some worms from home and then took us to a hide he had built himself in the forest. Shortly after he set up a bluetooth speaker to play the call, an Ivory-breasted Pitta appeared, displayed and consumed the utterly irresistible worms.
During this time I was perched on a very low plastic stool of the type used in nursery schools. My camcorder had died a few days earlier and had to use my back-up Canon bridge camera, the video output of which is of lower quality in the gloom of the forest floor. A second pitta then appeared during the performance but the rival was soon seen off. Unfortunately I could not swivel on my stool to get both birds in frame especially since my left gluteus maximus was indicating a strong desire not to be compressed for any longer on a stool resembling a medium-sized yoghurt pot.
The Ivory-breasted Pitta is endemic to some of the islands of the north Moluccas. Its scientific name, Pitta maxima, reflects its large size, the largest in the genus but not, by 1 cm, the largest pitta of all. In some publications it was also known as the Halmahera Pitta or Moluccan Pitta. It is a bird of lowland forest including secondary growth and overgrown coconut plantations. It is said to be fairly common throughout its range but, like most pittas, difficult to observe.
The video can be seen below. Particularly impressive are the bristles that appear in the centre line during his puffed up display. I have not seen them described before.
After that display, three very happy birdwatchers and two equally delighted guides emerged from the hide.
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