Newest Birdland Bird: The Indian Pitta

The newest bird to grace our Birdland cages is the Indian Pitta, which is a medium-sized bird. In the wild, they are found mainly in Sub-Himalayan areas and they winter in southern India as well as Sri Lanka. They absolutely love thick undergrowth, which helps them to disguize themselves and their families. Their brilliant colors can make them a very beautiful and fun bird to watch and they are often covered in newspaper stories all around the areas that they live in.

So what is it that makes these birds so different? Well, they have a small, stubby tail and very long, strong legs. The Indian Pitta also has a beautiful buff colored crown and stripe with black coronal stripes, this black eye stripes, as well as white throats and necks. Their upper areas of their bodies are green with a blue tail, buff colored under areas, and bright red on the lower belly and vent. They usually hop along the ground through the brush to forage and they have even been known to get caught in small aminal traps.

Normally, they are heard more than they are seen and they have a very distinct whistle that is made up of two main notes, sometimes with a triple note thrown in. They normally will call once or twice, usually with other neighbor birds joining in with them, especially at dusk or dawn. For this reason, they are called the "Six-O-Clock" bird in Tamil.

While they will mainly breed in the Himalayan foothills from nothern Pakistan up to the west to at least Napal and sometimes up into the Sikkim in the east. They also have been known to breed in the central hills of India as well as Wester Ghats to the south toward Belgaum and Goa. They are so common throughout the whole area that they have been known to even show up inside some people's homes when they are exhausted from moving all around, breeding, and migrating.

Since they are a species of bird that makes seasonal movements that go along with the rains, their breeding season is suring the south-west Monsoon from June to August and normally peaks in June in central India and in July in northern India. They build small globular structures with one small, round opening on one side that is built low to the ground or on lower branches. Normally, the Indian Pitta lays four to five eggs which are glossy white and sperical with some spots and specks of deep maroon or purple.

The Indian Pitta loves to feed on small insects and other smaller invertebrates that are picked up off the ground or leaves that are littered all over the ground. Of course, they have also been noted to take food scraps from humans that have been left on the ground.

They are a very beautiful and unique bird to watch and enjoy, and if you haven't gotten yours in Birdland yet - make sure that you get a pair to breed and see what kind of unique color combinations you too can come up with. They will cost you coins, not feathers, and you have to be level 45 to buy them.