Pitta iris
Silhouette: Rachael Joakim · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The rainbow pitta (Pitta iris) is a small passerine bird in the pitta family, Pittidae, endemic to northern Australia, most closely related to the superb pitta of Manus Island. It has a velvet black head with chestnut stripes above the eyes, olive green upper parts, black underparts, a bright red belly and an olive green tail. An Australian endemic, it lives in the monsoon forests and in some drier eucalypt forests.
Like other pittas, the rainbow pitta is a secretive and shy bird. Its diet is mainly insects, arthropods and small vertebrates. Pairs defend territories and breed during the rainy season, as that time of year provides the most food for nestlings. The female lays three to five blotched eggs inside its large domed nest. Both parents defend the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. Although the species has a small global range, it is locally common and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as being of least concern.
The rainbow pitta was described by the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould in 1842, which is based on a specimen collected on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Litchfield National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rainbow Pitta sighting in Kakadu National Park on a given day, based on 218 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 87th most-seen of the 186 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rainbow Pitta in Kakadu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, the lowest month. February has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rainbow Pitta sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Rainbow Pitta sightings, Kakadu National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Litchfield National Park (Australia, about 10%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Rainbow Pitta that you can see in Kakadu National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Torresian Crow (about 70%), Willie Wagtail (about 60%) and White-bellied Cuckooshrike (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rainbow Pitta is recorded against all the birds logged in Kakadu National Park (218 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
