G Sreedharan photographed a Hooded Pitta (Pitta sordida) at Singapore’s Jurong Lake Park on the mid-afternoon of 30th November 2008.
“Bird spent most of the time up on several different trees. Another sighting was reported in Chinese Garden a day earlier. It could be the same bird which implies that it may be moving over a wide area (Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, Jurong Lake Park).”
Over at Bididari, Con Foley also encountered a Hooded Pitta on 7th December.
The Hooded Pitta is an uncommon winter visitor and passage migrant. Since the 1980s, a few birds have been recorded every year. They appear from November to April-May, peaking in December.
In their wintering grounds, these pitas are found in less closed-canopy forests. They roost off the ground and are silent most of the time except during calling a few times as they go to roost and again at dawn.
Image by G Sreedharan.
References:
1. Wang, L.K. & C. J. Hails, 2007. An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 15: 1-179.
2. Wells, D.R., 2007. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London. 800 pp.
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