Blue-Winged Pitta ( Pitta Moluccensis )

( 蓝翅八色鸫 ) 18 ~ 20.5cm

Author & Editor

Author: nelson khor

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Introduction

Each year, around the months of May to August, Blue-winged Pitta congregate in an area of fruit plantations in the northern state of Kedah, Perlis and Penang to build their nests and breed. These shy & elusive birds are ground nesters and are easier to observe only during the nesting period. It is thought that they migrate northwards into Thailand with their young after the breeding season and hardly a single Blue-winged Pitta is seen or heard in Kedah, Perlis and Penang outside the nesting months.

During this period they will choose a suitable spot to build their nests and they can be observed hopping all over the ground digging up earthworms and catching other insects and invertebrates. At this time, they are often seen digging up quite a mouthful of worms, crickets, grasshoppers and even the occasional centipede.

Nest Building

They start to gather dried material and fine roots to build their dome shaped nests. Nests are usually right on the ground amongst low scrub & undergrowth but are also observed in the under storey of fruit trees in epiphytic birds’ nest ferns. They are hardly located high up although there were records of nesting up on the tree previously.

The Nest

Nests are usually dome shaped & sheltered with a front facing entrance. Usually 3-4 lightly speckled eggs are laid per nest and male & female birds take turns to incubate & tend to the eggs. When one is quietly sitting in the nest, the other is often easily found perched on a nearby low branch keeping guard or bringing back food. Incubation is thought to take 7-10 days after which dark brown rough haired chicks emerge.

Feeding

Feeding 4 hungry chicks in one nest is more than a full time job for both parents and they usually bring back a lot of food at timely regular intervals. First, they will perch on a low branch nearby and check for threats before diving down into the nest to deliver the meals. At its peak, the return rate for feeding never goes longer than 30 minutes and sometimes both parents return with full mouthfuls of earthworms even on raining days.

Fledging

Being ground nesters, the chicks must mature fast and tend to take on faint adult colorations within a few days. They are encouraged by both parents to fledge much earlier than high nesting birds. From what was observed, perhaps the first sign of this proactive event, both parents will actively tearing away the canopy of the dome nest, revealing and exposing the 3 grown chicks. This action is assumed to be the affirmative action by both parents to force fledging. By now the chicks are capable of short hops and flight to nearby low branches where they remain a few days still depending on both parents for food. After fledging, the chicks with both parents still hang out in the general vicinity of the nest for at least 2 days and after that it, they are presumed, by their conspicuous absence that they all take off on their migration northwards.

Nelson Khor

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___________________above article, photographs contributed and copyright of nelson khor