Pittas of the Philippines

These birds are known as the "jewels of the forest floors" and are among the most famous bird families in Southeast Asia! Compared to our neighbors, the Philippines only has 4 resident species and 2 vagrants, which is, admittedly, not many. However, we do have two gorgeous endemic Pitta species! We have the Azure-breasted Pitta from Mindanao and the Eastern Visayas, and the Whiskered Pitta from Luzon! Both species are incredibly unique and among the most attractive birds in the overall Pitta family.

For this piece, I did something a biiiiit different by incorporating the various Pitta subspecies recorded in the country as well! Birders far-overlook subspecies across the Philippines. There was a time when the Philippine Pitta was a mere subspecies in the gigantic Red-bellied Pitta complex stretching all the way to Australia. But now they are 13 species! And with the Philippines having a couple of subspecies of its own, it shows that subspecies studies across different biogeographical regions of our archipelago are definitely worth exploring! The Sulu Pitta was once recommended species status back in 2013 as Erythropitta yairocho, but has since been placed as a subspecies of Philippine Pitta. Who knows, we might have more species than we thought?

This illustration is based on the 2025 AviList and the 2025 Wild Bird Club of the Philippines Checklist, which currently recognizes four resident Pitta species in the Philippines, with two additional vagrant species. Worth noting here is that the 2025 AviList also recognizes subspecies thompsoni for the Philippine Pitta. These illustrations were done roughly to scale with one another. Endemic species and subspecies are marked.