Fairy Pitta

Pitta nympha Temminck & Schlegel, 1847

16–20 cmLength88 gWeight

This small bird has seven colors in its rainbow-like plumage and a red wash from the lower belly to beneath the tail.

Busiest months: April · Most records: Thailand, China, Singapore

Looks like Blue-winged Pitta

Vulnerable

How to identify

Field marks

Chestnut crown with a central black stripe and whitish supercilium
Breast and belly cream, lower belly and undertail-coverts red
Back green, tail dark green with a cobalt-blue tail tip
White patch on the primaries visible in flight

Voice

A clear whistle, transcribed as “kwah-he kwa-wu”, longer and slower than in Blue-winged Pitta.

Similar species

Blue-winged Pitta

Blue-winged Pitta is larger, with yellowish-brown rather than chestnut crown sides and vivid blue upperwing coverts.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April · Most records: Thailand, China, Singapore

Fairy Pitta has been recorded at 60 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 10 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

Thailand China Singapore South Korea Vietnam Malaysia Indonesia Brunei

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The fairy pitta (Pitta nympha) is a small and brightly colored species of passerine bird in the family Pittidae. Its diet mainly consists of earthworms, spiders, insects, slugs, and snails. The fairy pitta breeds in East Asia and migrates south to winter in Southeast Asia.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Fairy Pitta?

The Fairy Pitta is about 16–20 cm long and weighs around 88 g.

Where does the Fairy Pitta live?

Its breeding range: Oriental, Palearctic: Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu (southern, central Japan), Jeju (south of Korean Peninsula), southern, eastern China and Taiwan (China). It is most often recorded in Thailand, China and Singapore.

When is the best time to see the Fairy Pitta?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in April (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Fairy Pitta endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Fairy Pitta as Vulnerable.

What does the Fairy Pitta eat?

Main food: Insects & other invertebrates.

What family is the Fairy Pitta in?

It belongs to the family Pittas (Pittidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length: 16–20 cm
Weight: 88 g
Habitat: Forest
Diet: Insects & other invertebrates
Lifestyle: Active on the ground
Migration: Migratory
Conservation: Vulnerable

More measurements

Wing: 121 mm
Tail: 39 mm
Bill: 25 mm
Tarsus: 41 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Oriental, Palearctic: Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu (southern, central Japan), Jeju (south of Korean Peninsula), southern, eastern China and Taiwan (China)

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2