Description
A stocky upright ground-dwelling bird with a very short tail. Black, with a chestnut eyebrow. Wings and back green. Shoulder blue. Vent red. Stout black bill.
Normally seen alone, hopping quietly along the forest floor. Generally shy, sometimes bolder at dawn or dusk. Eats small ground-dwelling creatures, occasionally takes fruit. Breeds Oct-Mar. The nest is usually a large dome (some more open or cup-shaped) of woven sticks and other plant material, with an opening at the side or near the top. Objects such as feathers or wallaby scats may decorate the entrance. Nests are situated in trees, on stumps or less frequently on the ground. Eggs are whitish, spotted or blotched with varying brown, grey or black. Clutch size from 2-5. Both sexes incubate the eggs, which takes around 2 weeks, and tend the chicks. The young leave the nest at around 2 weeks of age, and are fed by the parents for another 2-3 weeks.
Author credit: Lindley McKay
Habitat
Monsoon forest, monsoon vine thicket, and dense riverine forest.
Food
Omnivore
Range
Northern Australia.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Passeriformes | | Family: | Pittidae | | Genus: | Pitta | | Species: | iris | | Common Name: | Rainbow Pitta |
Relatives in same Genus
Red-bellied Pitta (P. erythrogaster)
Blue-winged Pitta (P. moluccensis)
Noisy Pitta (P. versicolor)
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