Going for the Shrike

We first saw this annual migrant in our neighborhood a week ago. However due to inclement weather I wasn't able to take a photo of this bird. This morning, a gleam of sunlight finally broke through. I brought my camera and prepared to go for the Shrike. It didn't take us long to find it, albeit at quite a distance. Knowing its habit of not going far from its chosen territory, we followed its short flights from one tree to another and eventually got a good enough shot.

A small flock of Scaly-breasted Munias then flew in. It looked like these were siblings that were the result of a nesting couple we observed early last month. Two of them seemed like they were having a spat.

While we were enjoying watching these young Munias frolic around, three small birds came flying by and landed on a small tree next to us. To our surprise they were juvenile Olive-backed Sunbirds.

Happy that we got our target birds at the great lawn area, we continued our morning walk at the ground level hoping to get a shot at the Zebra Doves. Unfortunately, only one showed up and it was a "heard only" experience. As we approached the retail row area we hoped that we would encounter the Philippine Pied Fantails we saw yesterday. This time they were a no-show and we discovered the reason why. Another migrant bully was staking claim on that area.

Of course, I had to take an obligatory shot of the very common Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

As we were about to return to our condo, I saw a huge wader fly overhead. It was too high and backlit that I am not 100% sure of its ID. For now I'd say it was a Purple Heron.

And that ended our quick morning sortie around our condo grounds.