It's time to call it day

Wenxing and I looked at each other. Tacitly, we agreed that it was time to call it a day. We were at the Mini Forest of La Mesa Ecopark since 6 in the morning. My friend was hoping to take some photos of the Hooded Pitta that had been seen here recently. For almost two hours we searched but only the Ashy Thrush was kind enough to show up.

Nearing 8 am, Wenxing heard the unmistakable call of the Pitta. He played it back for a few seconds and got an immediate response. We tried to locate the source of the calls but like a mischievous spirit we never even got a glimpse of our target bird. And then it was gone. As if a switch had been flicked that the pitta calls just stopped completely. Then came the reason for the sudden silence - a group of about 30 bikers passed the trails where we were searching for the Hooded Pitta. This group continued circling the trail over and over again. That was when we knew that our birding day was over.

A short stop by the horse stables and in between the swooshing of bikes, we were able to see and photograph an overstaying Grey-streaked Flycatcher and a White-eared Brown Dove.

And that was it.