This has to the shortest birding outing for me so far. I had a couple of hours to pick up my daughter from school, so I set off to Lalbagh. It had two things going for it - distance and more important, had parking. Boo to Cubbon Park.

I set off straight to the point where I knew the Spotted Owlets were usually to be found. In between I stopped at the maze near the lake where I spotted a Common Hoopoe the last time I came here.

Didn't see the Hoopoe, but I saw a little bird flitting down to the ground from a medium size thorny tree. I parked myself firmly on the ground to try and make some portraits of the bird on the ground. Though he kept flitting down to grab a bite every now and then, he did not spend much time on terra firma. He was more at home among the thorny branches where he blended in perfectly if you were not looking for him.

Here are a couple (O.K. more than a couple) of portraits of the little guy. I later ID'ed him (thanks to a member from the TGIS group that I am part of) to be the Asian Brown Flycatcher. A Lifer.

Met a fellow birder who had a great catch - a Golden Oriole with its own catch (a spider) and a couple of sunbirds. Then met another interesting person who was an avid birder on his walks with his wife. She knew this was going to be a long conversation and drifted off to sit while we talked about birds, their sounds and wildlife in general. He was quite a senior person and it was an enlightening talk. We exchanged numbers and I moved on to quickly catch the Spotted Owlets before it was time for me to pick up my daughter from school.

It wasn't too difficult to spot them since I saw these guys - there were 3 of them. I spotted them on that same tree the last time I was here with my daughter. I had my 50mm then and didn't stand a chance. I was more than happy just to spot them then. I mounted my flash to make those eyes shine and made this image. Not the best, but it would have to do for now. Gotta rush.