Recently, staff at the Qingxin Baiwan Provincial Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province discovered the Fairy Pitta, known as the "fairy of birds," for the first time while sorting through infrared camera data.
The Fairy Pitta gets its name from the eight colors of its plumage: chestnut head, pale yellow eyebrow stripe, black cheeks, white throat, bright red belly, greyish-white underparts, dark green wings, and bright blue shoulders. The Fairy Pitta is listed as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List, with a global population estimated at over 10,000.
The Fairy Pitta is a summer visitor and migratory bird, often found alone in the grass under shrubs, foraging as it walks on the ground. It is agile, alert, and timid, and adept at hopping, mostly hopping along the ground. Its flight is straight and low, at a relatively slow speed. It primarily feeds on insects, often digging in the soil among fallen leaves to forage for earthworms, centipedes, and lepidopteran larvae, as well as other insects such as coleopterans.
The presence of the Fairy Pitta, a vulnerable bird species, reflects the achievements of the Qingxin Baiwan Provincial Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province in biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration.
Since the deployment of infrared cameras in the Qingxin Baiwan Provincial Nature Reserve in Guangdong, various nationally and provincially protected wild animals have been captured on camera, including leopard cats, silver pheasants, spotted palm civets, red muntjacs, Reeves' muntjacs, and Chinese porcupines. The reserve will continue to monitor wildlife and increase public awareness efforts to lay a solid foundation for building an ecologically sound Qingxin environment where humans and nature coexist harmoniously.
