The Fairy Pitta is a brightly colored migrant that breeds in Taiwan's low-elevation, damp broadleaf forests in summer. It searches the ground for insects and earthworms.
It has a chestnut head, a yellow eyebrow, and a black eye stripe extending behind the eye. Its back and wings are green, and the center of the belly and undertail are red; the red area is narrower in females.
Fairy Pittas carry earthworms to their nestlings. A study observed four nests in Namhae-gun, southern South Korea, and compared the records with published studies from Taiwan, China, Jeju Island, and other sites. Across the four breeding locations and 15 nests, earthworms dominated the food delivered to chicks across differences in rainfall, chick age, and time of day.
Researchers estimated how much land a family would need to find the earthworms it consumes during breeding. Their predicted habitat area matched observed home ranges when the model assumed that about 70% of adult energy intake came from earthworms. The study links earthworm-rich ground cover with the feeding areas used by breeding Fairy Pittas.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Records from 15 nests across four breeding locations showed that earthworms dominated the Fairy Pitta nestling diet. A habitat model matched observed home ranges when it assumed that about 70% of adult energy intake came from earthworms.