The British ornithologist who rediscovered the Gurney’s pitta three decades ago fears the iconic bird may have disappeared from Thailand again.
The Gurney's pitta.
The last remaining Gurney’s pittas were a colour-banded male and two females, which were from a nest in 2008. However, neither female bird has been seen at Khao Nor Chuchi in Khlong Thom district in the southern province of Krabi for almost a year. The male was last seen in February last year.
“No bird has been seen since February 2014 in the area,” said Assoc Prof Philip D Round, from Mahidol University's biology department.
"It’s quite hard to say if the species has become extinct," Mr Round said. "The birds are quite secretive. But I cannot say for sure whether there were one or two birds left. None has been seen since February 2014."
However, the Wildlife Research Division of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry was reluctant to label the Gurney’s pitta a dodo.
"We don't think it is extinct yet, even though we believe the birds are close to extinction if we do not protect them," said Budsabong Kanchanasaka, director of the Wildlife Research Division.
She said the ministry would conduct a survey this year to track the Gurney's pitta population. "People still hear the voice of the male Gurney's pitta. So we believe they are still out there."
She said the ministry's latest official count in 2010-2011 showed there were 20 birds left, so there is hope the new survey will find some.
The black, yellow and blue bird, which has been featured in elementary school books, had not been seen in Thailand for half a century until Mr Round rediscovered it on June 14, 1986, in a nest in Krabi.
“I remembered the moment vividly. It was big news. The birds had not been seen in Thailand for 50 years,” he said.
The discovery came after a four-year search. Prior to the discovery, there were rumours that the birds, which are still found in neighbouring Myanmar, were occasionally passing through the hands of illegal wildlife traders in Bangkok.
After the 1986 discovery, the Khao Pra-Bang Khram Wildlife Sanctuary on a mountain in Khao Nor Chuchi was established to safeguard the Gurney’s pittas.
Mr Round says despite the initial euphoria about the discovery and the government's high-profile conservation efforts, not enough had been done. “The government provided inadequate protection to safeguard the species,” he said.
Although the Royal Forest Department declared the area a sanctuary to provide a natural habitat for Gurney’s pittas, the area of protected land was not large enough, he said. Mr Round said the sanctuary covers steep hill slopes, while excluding the low-land area, which is the natural habitat for Gurney’s pitta and other endangered birds.
“Thirty per cent of resident birds are living in the low-land area. They are also close to extinction,” he said.
In 1986, there were only five pairs of Gurney's pittas in the newly declared sanctuary. The remaining three-quarters of the estimated 40 pairs were thought to live in Khao Nor Chuchi and were excluded from the protected area.
Areas outside the sanctuary boundary continue to be encroached on illegally. Settlers from nearby provinces grow rubber and oil palm trees. The number of houses inside the national reserve forest doubled a decade later, and the forest was continually cut. Some of the residents stole young birds from nests to sell them and likely killed the adults, Mr Round said.
If the birds are extinct, Mr Round said: “It is a national disgrace for Thailand to fail to save the species.
“We were searching for this bird for four years. But it is harder to protect it. There was newly cut forest everywhere. I feel sorry for wildlife conservation people.”