The Old World suboscines, in Passeriformes, includes the jewel-like pittas (Pittidae)--resplendently colored ground-dwelling birds that live throughout SE Asia and in parts of Australia and Africa. Pittas are my particular favorite in this group of suboscines, which also contains the patterned broadbills (Eurylaimidae), green broadbills (Calyptomenidae), asities (Philepittidae) and the enigmatic Sapayoa (Sapayoidae).

 

Not much is known about the natural history of any of these families and I have been incredibly fortunate to participate in two research trips to Malaysian Borneo to document the breeding biology of Black-headed Pittas (Erythropitta ussheri) in particular. Pittas are really skulky - both hard to find and hard to catch in mist-nets. All pitta species generally have long, stout legs and stubby tails -- adaptations which go along with their preference for hopping along the forest floor, rather than flying.

 

Interestingly, some species make long distance migrations (see below) while others are sedentary and some restricted to very small island ranges. Several Cornell undergraduates and I were fortunate enough to spend two days at the American Natural History Museum in NYC, where we measured the wing morphology of 83 species/subspecies - some specimens dating back to the early 1900s or even earlier. We quantified hand-wing index (HWI) and compared it to movement status, if known. As expected, we found that migratory species/subspecies had longer and more aerodynamic wings. Using the most current pitta phylogeny in Irestedt et al. 2006, I have learned how to perform phylogenetic least squares regression to quantify the phylogenetic signal in the relationship between HWI and movement status in the pitta clade. Thus far, not much can be concluded because the movement status of so many subspecies is still unknown. In addition, the pitta clade is unrooted i.e. contains a basal polytomy.  I am excited to learn more about these birds, and hope that a more resolved phylogeny will soon be available.