We had planned to meet Thong at the National Parks office at 6 o'clock, the earliest time possible because that was when the ferry started running. We were at the ferry at a quarter to six but the boatman only arrived thirty minutes later. The folk who were kepy waiting on the park side of the river wanting to come to the village side seemed keen to give him an earful.

We jumped onto the rather shoddy sit-up-and-beg bikes that we had hired from the park's office (they don't allow private bicycle for some unknown reason) and set off to look for our target bird, Siamese Fireback. Although Siamese Fireback is the national bird of Tahiland, it is common in Vietnam.

On the way we picked up various new birds - it was almost like eating take-aways while driving to a fancy restaurant - but when we got to the area where the Firebacks are most often seen it was dead quiet. After about thirty minutes we caught a glimpse of one slinking off into the undergrowth - a bit like getting to the fancy restaurant and only being able to look at the menu.

Eventually we had to turn back and, lo and behold, we ran into a family party of Firebacks that hung around long enough for us to get good views of the male.

Job done, we could make our way back feeling pretty satisfied, particularly as we picked up a number of the species we didn't get to see well enough yesterday.

The list of lifers for today was eventually Banded Broadbill, Black-and-red Broadbill, Greater Flameback, Grey-faced Tit-Babbler, Laced Woodpecker, Ochraceous Bulbul, Orange-breasted Trogon, Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, Siamese Fireback, Thick-billed Green Pigeon and White-browed Piculet making a total of eighteen new birds for Cat Tien.