Endangered pitta nympha spotted in Jiangxi, China

A pitta nympha, known as the “beauty bird”, was recently spotted in the Yishan Nature Reserve, southeast China’s Jiangxi Province.

Pitta nymphas are famous for their eight-colored feathers, hence the name of the “beauty bird”. At present, they are a globally endangered species and 2nd-level nationally protected animals in China, with only less than 10,000 pitta nymphas now living worldwide. These “beauty birds” are summer migratory birds and tend to move alone among the grass under the bushes. They usually fly low along a straight line at a slow speed. They feed on insects, and often hunt for earthworms, centipedes, lepidopteran larvae, and coleoptera by searching for their prey in fallen leaves or by digging up soil with their beak.