Editing Pitta (section)

===Status and conservation===
[[File:Pitta baudii koronás pitta.jpg|thumb|alt=Illustration of two birds with different plumage|[[Blue-headed pitta]]s (male left, female right) are threatened by rapid [[deforestation in Borneo]]]]

Pittas are generally forest birds and, as such, are vulnerable to [[habitat loss]] caused by rapid deforestation.<ref name="HBW" /> They can also be difficult birds to survey and are easily overlooked.<ref name="Gurney"/> Four species are assessed to be [[endangered species|endangered]], and a further nine are listed as [[vulnerable species|vulnerable]] by the IUCN. Eight species are listed as [[near-threatened]], and one, the [[Louisiade pitta]], is too poorly known to be assessed and is listed as [[data deficient]].<ref name="IUCN">{{cite web|author1=BirdLife International|author-link1=BirdLife International |title=Family Pittidae |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/results?thrlev1=&thrlev2=&kw=&fam=103&gen=0&spc=&cmn=&reg=0&cty=0&rlEX=Y&rlEW=Y&rlCR=Y&rlEN=Y&rlVU=Y&rlNT=Y&rlDD=Y|website=Data Zone |access-date=17 July 2017|date=2017}}</ref>

The Gurney's pitta was not seen for 34 years between 1952 and 1986, before a small population was discovered in southern Thailand.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gretton |first1=Adam |last2=Kohler |first2=Marcus |last3=Lansdown|first3=Richard V.|last4=Pankhurst|first4=Tim J. |last5=Parr |first5=John |last6=Robson|first6=Craig|title=The status of Gurney's Pitta ''Pitta gumeyi'', 1987–1989|journal=Bird Conservation International |date=1993|volume=3|issue=4|pages=351–367 |doi= 10.1017/S0959270900002604 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231826888|doi-access=free}}</ref> This small population declined after its rediscovery, and, by 2000, it had reached a low of 10 pairs, and was listed as [[critically endangered]]. In 2003, the species was found in Burma for the first time since 1914, and in large numbers, between nine and thirty five thousand pairs. The species was considerably less threatened than thought, but it is still of considerable conservation concern, as deforestation of the habitat in Burma continues.<ref name="Gurney">{{cite journal|last1=Donald|first1=P. F.|last2=Aratrakorn|first2=S.|last3=Win Htun |first3=T. |last4=Eames|first4=J. C.|last5=Hla|first5=H.|last6=Thunhikorn|first6=S.|last7=Sribua-Rod |first7=K. |last8=Tinun|first8=P.|last9=Aung|first9=S.M.|last10=Zaw|first10=S.M.|last11=Buchanan|first11=G.M.|title=Population, distribution, habitat use and breeding of Gurney's Pitta ''Pitta gurneyi'' in Myanmar and Thailand|journal=Bird Conservation International|date=2009|volume=19|issue=4|pages=353–366 |doi= 10.1017/S0959270909008612 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The rapid rate of deforestation in Borneo has pushed the [[blue-headed pitta]], considered common and secure as recently as 1996, into the list of species considered vulnerable.<ref name="Bluehead">{{cite web|author=BirdLife International|title=Blue-headed Pitta|url=https://www.globalconservation.info/rudy/view_html.php?id=237&op=pittbaud|work=Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book|publisher=BirdLife International|access-date=2 August 2010|location=Cambridge|year=2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411191144/https://www.globalconservation.info/rudy/view_html.php?id=237&op=pittbaud|archive-date=11 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pittas have been targeted by poachers for the illegal [[wild-bird trade]]. They are not targeted because of their song, as many songbirds are, and may simply be captured as bycatch from collecting other species, and because of their attractive plumage. According to some trappers, they also may end up being eaten for food.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shepherd |first1=Chris |last2=Eaton |first2=James|last3=Serene|first3=Chng|title=Pittas for a pittance: observations on the little known illegal trade in Pittidae in west Indonesia|journal=Birding Asia|date=2015|volume=24|pages=18–20 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292977680}}</ref> On Manus, locals report that predation by snakes, including the [[brown tree snake]], is responsible for the rarity of the endangered superb pitta,<ref name ="Dutson">{{cite journal|last1=Dutson|first1=Guy C.L.|last2=Newman|first2=Jonathan L.|title=Observations on the Superb Pitta ''Pitta superba'' and other Manus endemics|journal=Bird Conservation International|date= 1991 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=215–222 |doi=10.1017/S0959270900000605|doi-access=free}}</ref> but the snake, the introduction of which is responsible for several extinctions of island birds across the Pacific, is native to the island, and is therefore likely a natural threat.<ref name="superb" />