Each year, around the months of May to August, Blue Winged Pittas 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 more easily observed 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 the period when they are still choosing a suitable spot to build their nests, they can be observed hopping all over the ground digging up earthworms and catching other insects and invertebrates. At time, they can dig up quite a mouthful of worms, crickets, grasshoppers and even the occasional centipede.
They start gathering dried material and fine roots to build their dome shaped nests. Nest 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 in trees but there are the record nesting high up on the tree too.
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 4 hungry chicks in the nest is more than a full time job for both parents and they bring back a lot of food at very regular intervals, often perching on a low branch nearby and checking 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 raining day.
Being ground nesters, the chicks mature fast taking on faint adult colorations within a few days and are encouraged by both parents to fledge much earlier than high nesting birds.
What was observed was perhaps the first ever event of both parents actively tearing away the canopy of the dome nest, revealing and exposing the 3 grown chicks. This act is assumed to be 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 dependant 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 are assumed by their conspicuous absence that they all take off on their migration northwards.
Dear Nelson,
One of these Blue Winged Pitta wandered into my house this morning. It appears to be unwell or injured because I observed that it stood for long periods of time in one spot without moving, its head drooping down. When approached it hops away and tries to fly but keeps falling down like it didn't have the strength to perch wherever it landed. I'm afraid if I left it outside, some cat or dog would kill it. I tried giving it water but it won't drink. Reading your write-up, I would need to look for earthworms now. Is there anyone who would know how to treat this bird?
elsie
