Indian Pitta (Avichchiya)
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Avichchiya also known as Indian Pitta is a late migrant to our country and a migrant that even settles in our own home gardens. Pitta stays on the ground looking for insects hiding on the leaf litter. The Indian Pitta is a beautiful bird that has a buff coloured crown stripe, black coronal stripes, a thick black eye stripe and white throat and neck. The bird’s upperparts are green, with a blue tail, the underparts buff, with bright red on the lower belly and vent.
According to folklore, the Avichchiya had a beautiful fan of tail feathers. The peacock wasn’t beautiful as today, so he wanted to borrow Avichchiya’s beautiful tail to go for a wedding. He pleaded so hard, that Avichchiya had given it with the promise of returning it. Happy peacock went to the wedding proudly, but never returned Avichchiya’s tail. Avichchiya still asks it back from the pea-fowl and calls every day at dusk and in the morning.
Because the Indian Pitta’s call can be often heard around 6 o’clock in the morning and evening, the bird is also called the
‘Six O’clock Bird’.