About Rainbow Pitta

Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pittadae
Genus:	Pitta
Species:	iris

Pitta - small bird, Indian Telugu language word, generic for all small birds; iris - Greek the rainbow, alluding to the colourful plumage

Where to See

East Point, Howard Springs and Fogg Dam are reliable places to see Rainbow Pitta. In Kakadu they can be seen at Gungarre, Manngarre, Burrunggui and Maguk.

Call

Click here to hear its call.

Video

Rainbow Pittas filmed in near Darwin while on tour. Guests David, Peter, Fiona and Titta enjoyed their first ever view of a Rainbow Pitta that was elusive at first and then seemed to ignore our presence and carried on with it's business of finding worms in the leaf litter.

Sources – HANZAB, my personal observations; Photos © Peter McKenzie and Frank Taylor

 

Habitat

Mostly vine thicket monsoon forest, can be in eucalypt forest, bamboo thicket, paperbark forest and edge of mangroves. Coastal and subcoastal areas where there is plenty of moisture and protected from fire.

 

 

Diet

Worms, snails and insects and their larvae, occasionally frogs and small skinks, mostly earthworms.

Distribution

Rainbow Pittas can be found in suitable habitat from the Kimberley in NW Australia to East Arnhemland.

 

Life Cycle

Monogamous, can raise two broods in a season. Late October to early March. Nest is loose, interwoven sticks and dead vines, usually dome-shaped but can be cup, with entrance at side or near top. Can be in fork, on branch, against butress root on the ground, from ground level to 8 metres above. Eggs 4, incubation period 14 days. Both sexes share in nest building and feeding and caring for youngsters.