CreatureData

Rainbow pitta

Pitta iris Gould, 1842

LCLeast Concernsongbirds

The rainbow pitta (Pitta iris) is a species in the family Pittidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 62.2 g to 82.6 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Rainbow pitta (Pitta iris)
Photo: Leo UdB · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the rainbow pitta

Weight
62.2 g – 82.6 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
9 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3.9src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the rainbow pitta live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The rainbow pitta is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the rainbow pitta?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

From the Wikipedia article “Rainbow pitta” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rainbow_pitta&oldid=1354645922), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the rainbow pitta endangered?

The rainbow pitta is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the rainbow pitta classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyPittidae
  6. genusPitta
  7. SpeciesPitta iris Gould, 1842

Synonyms Pitta versicolor iris, Pulchripitta iris keatsi, Pulchripitta iris melvillensis

Other names and names in other languages (35)
  • بيتا قوس قزحArabic
  • pita irisatCatalan
  • pita duhováCzech
  • pita seithliwWelsh
  • RegnbuepittaDanish
  • RegenbogenpittaGerman
  • ĉielarka pitoEsperanto
  • Pita arcoirisSpanish
  • Pita arcoírisSpanish
  • mustpitaEstonian
  • پیتای رنگینکمانیPersian
  • mustepittaFinnish
  • Brève irisFrench
  • crnoprsa pitaCroatian
  • szivárványpittaHungarian
  • Pitta iridataItalian
  • Pitta arcobalenoItalian
  • ムナグロヤイロチョウJapanese
  • vaivorykštinė pitaLithuanian
  • RegenboogpittaDutch
  • irispittaNorwegian
  • kurtaczek tęczowyPolish
  • پینگ نورنگاWestern Panjabi
  • pita-arco-írisPortuguese
  • pita-de-peito-negroPortuguese
  • Радужная питтаRussian
  • pita dúhováSlovak
  • Zelenokrila crna pitaSerbian
  • regnbågsjuveltrastSwedish
  • Gökkuşağı Renkli PittaTurkish
  • піта австралійськаUkrainian
  • Đuôi cụt cầu vồngVietnamese
  • 彩虹八色鳥Chinese
  • 彩虹八色鶇Chinese
  • 彩虹八色鸫Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the rainbow pitta

Other species in the same genus Pitta.

LC, Least Concern

Indian pitta

Pitta brachyura

PittidaeNo free photo yet

CompareRainbow pitta vs Indian pittaRainbow pitta vs Western hooded pittaRainbow pitta vs Blue-winged pittaRainbow pitta vs African pitta

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the rainbow pitta?

An adult rainbow pitta weighs 62.2 g – 82.6 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the rainbow pitta live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the rainbow pitta for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the rainbow pitta endangered?

The rainbow pitta is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the rainbow pitta?

The rainbow pitta (Pitta iris) belongs to the family Pittidae in the order Passeriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Rainbow pitta (Pitta iris). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rainbow-pitta

MLA

“Rainbow pitta (Pitta iris).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rainbow-pitta.

BibTeX
@misc{rainbow_pitta_2026,
  title = {Rainbow pitta (Pitta iris)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rainbow-pitta},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}