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Bird · Pitta brachyura
Indian pitta
IUCN LC · Least concern
A short-tailed, long-legged ground bird coloured in blocks of green, buff, blue and scarlet, which hops about in leaf litter and looks impossible until it moves.
How to recognise it
Listen at dawn and dusk for a clear two-note whistle from the undergrowth, then look low and still. The scarlet vent flashes when it flies.
Where to see it
Kochi
It is a winter visitor here, not a resident: birds arrive around November and leave before the monsoon, so a summer search for one will fail.
Thattekad (Salim Ali) Bird Sanctuary (in season)