First Shrike of the Season

I saw my first Brown Shrike for the season early August this year in La Union, but I had no success getting near the bird. They're very shy in that place, most probably because of wide-spread hunting with slingshots or air rifles.

 

Contrary to popular belief, many birds are actually less shy in urban areas where they can live near people and rarely get shot. A brief visit to my village in Metro Manila allowed me to get close to a relatively well-groomed specimen. I shot from my bedroom window with the hand held 7D + 700 mm, and the bird had no idea its image had been digitally preserved for posterity.

 

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Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus, migrant)

Habitat - Common in all habitats at all elevations.

 

Shooting Info - Paranaque City, Philippines, October 2, 2012, 7D + 500 f4 IS + Canon 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/6.3, ISO 800, 1/320 sec, hand held, manual exposure in available light.

Uncropped 18 MP Full Frame

 



Feeding the next Munia generation

I chanced upon this adult bird feeding an immature with grass seeds at the vacant lot beside our house in Paranaque (Metro Manila) recently. Light was flat due to the overcast skies, but the noise made by the immature as it begged its parent for food was enough provocation for me to take out my birding gear from its bag.

I shot a couple of long bursts of RAW (thanks to the 7D's new firmware for the deeper buffer), and one of the shots caught the parent just as it passed a small grass seed to the open beak of the impatient youngster.

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Scaly-Breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata, adult and immature)

Habitat: Ricefields, grasslands, gardens and scrub.

Shooting info - Paranaque City, Philippines, September 30, 2012, 7D + 500 f4 L IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/640 sec, manual exposure in available light, hand held.