Indian Pitta Found in the Margalla Hills
Dear Readers of the Islamabad Birding Blog. It’s Islbirder here who knows nothing of Facebook (I leave that to Swabi Birder) but I do know RMK has attracted a lot of new birder/photographers through the Facebook Group. I spent three wonderful years in Pakistan birding with RMK and many mornings during the heat of sweltering summers we would be at Trail 5 of the Margalla Hills before daybreak listening for the plaintive whistle of a very shy and incredibly rare summer visitor to Pakistan. In all those many days of trying I never did find the beautiful Indian Pitta. The Pakistan range of this species, historically, has only ever been the Margalla Hills National Park. It is frustratingly elusive within its breeding territory and much easier to see where it winters in Sri Lanka. Indian Pitta was first recorded in Pakistan in June 1978 when a pair was found breeding at Daman-i-Koh, at the foot of the Margalla Hills. Subsequent investigation by the eminent ornithologist, the