Solomon Islands - Pity the Pitta, an Avian Ambassador for threatened Solomons biodiversity

According to the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the Black-faced Pitta was once reasonably common, at least on Bougainville. Forty specimens were collected there before 1938. But since then it was not recorded until 1994 when three birds were heard calling at Tirotonga on Santa Isabel. It is categorised by the IUCN as "Vulnerable" on the basis of its very small known population, but if research shows its population is falling, this would warrant the bird being reclassified in a higher threat category.Click on the link below to read the full story.