One day on the way home from a walk at Botanic Garden, we heard new bird chirpings behind the taxis station at Nassim Gate. I looked into the woods, and I did not see anything. The birds kept chirping. I stepped into the trees, and my eyes adjusted to the environment, I saw a brownish bird. A few seconds later, I saw a pair right in front of my eyes. There were a least 5 or 6 such birds there at the time.
After a few moments of observations, with the birds flying around, I got good views of them from several angles. The bird has reddish brown feathers, dark beak, dark tail, black/grey zebra striped underbelly, and a white crest on its head. Its call was loud and sharp. This bird turned out to be banded woodpecker. However we did not see or hear them pecking that day.
Hindsight, my curiosity made me try hard to find the birds after a failed first glance. The perseverance and patience paid off! Bird watching is like solving problems. It takes curiosity/interests, some basic background knowledge, and perseverance to find and identify uncommon birds.
Incidentally a couple days later, we saw a banded woodpecker at Hampstead wetland pecking a snag under bright blue sky. Later a blue tailed bee eater flew into the view, what a scene!
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