Three Shrikes and You're Out!

Tuesday morning and we're out. Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 am Cynthia and I have our usual dancercise routine at the local Community Hall. We both wanted to have a more or less regular workout so we agreed to hike around our village. This exercise is not as easy as it may seem because the streets within our subdivision would put any roller coaster track to shame.

"Bring along your camera" my wife reminded me.

Ooooh, we're doing some birding on the side, I gleefully thought as I slung my Canon 7D with a 300mm lens over my shoulder.

We haven't even began to sweat when we saw our first non-Eurasian-Tree-Sparrow bird - a Brown Shrike! It was to be the first of our many encounters with this species throughout the length of our, um walking exercise. 

Shrike one

Shrike two

Shrike three

There were other birds in the neighborhood, of course such as the ubiquitous Yellow-vented Bulbuls.

We were so lucky that we were not directly underneath this Olive-backed Sunbird.

Then there was this Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker who was eventually chased off by one of the bully Shrikes.

A pleasant surprise was when we heard a pair of Black-naped Orioles calling loudly somewhere in them there trees. However we were only afforded a swift glimpse of them.

As we walked back towards our house, drenched in sweat and panting like a hyperactive dog, we encountered yet another Brown Shrike. 

"You already got photos of three shrikes" Cynthia said, "and you're out.....of breath!"