Last month I posted about an overwintering Noisy Pitta in a rainforest gully down below my house. On Sunday, Marion Roper brought some visiting birders over to see if they could find White-eared Monarch (good views) and I asked if they wanted to give the Pitta a go. We pushed our way through the lantana into the gully and after only two short cuts of playback, had the pitta sitting on a branch just in front of us. High fives all around we headed back up to my place.
About an hour later, on dusk, I heard a pitta call a few hundred meters off my back deck.curious, as there is no proper habitat from where it called and I could not believe there would be two over wintering birds out here. Then a minute or so later I heard a pitta call again.a few hundred meters further to my right.then a few minutes later.again a few hundred meters away this time almost behind me. And finally, again from closer to the gully making a complete loop of well over a KM from the spot where we had it earlier.
I find this very curious. I am hypothesizing that the bird from earlier waited until dusk and then flew out for ‘a look see’ and to try to find the interloper or reinforce his winter claim. Assuming this is correct; I had never considered that a bird would hold such a territorial memory for that long. Even more surprising as it is winter as I would not have expected it to be very juiced up. I had always assumed that a bird resumed normal behavior quite quickly once the threat or rival left…?
As previously mentioned, I have heard this bird on dusk and after dark from this area all year, but never “advertising” or “searching” as it last night. Is this a common pitta behavior? Is it common for a wintering bird to hold this level of territorial memory over an hour after a brief encounter? Love to hear any thoughts or observations of similar.
Cheers,
Roger McNeill
Brisbane – Samford Valley, SEQ
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