Indian Pitta

Bird of many hues !

While scouting for birds early morning today i.e. June 17 near the Parch Dam ( few Kilometres away from Chandigarh), I heard a clear short double whistle. The sound led me to a branch on which an amazing beautiful bird was perching and whistling. While making the sound, the bird’s head was thrown back and the bill was pointing skywards. It was the Indian Pitta.

Indian Pitta is a colourful bird that contains numerous colours and hence it is locally called ‘Navrang’ or ‘Nawarang’. It is a small stocky bird that is mostly seen on the ground level of forests or under dense undergrowth, foraging on insects and small invertebrates in leaf litter. It has long, strong legs, a very short tail and stout bill, with a buff coloured crown stripe, black coronal stripes, a thick black eye stripe and white throat and neck. The upperparts are green, with a blue tail, the underparts buff, with bright red on the lower belly and vent. The orange or brownish-orange beak has a black tip. Its legs and feet are pink and the nails are brown.

Normally it breeds in the sub-himalayan region but migrates to warmer areas in South India and Sri-Lanka during the winters. Being a slow flier, it normally gets fatigued or exhausted when it reaches its destination in the south. .

The name Pitta is derived from Telegu which means a small bird and is also referred in Tamil as Arumani kuruvi which means 6 ‘o clock bird as it is best seen then.

Location courtesy : Arvind Syal.