Brown Shrike in flight

I've never touched my birding gear for a couple of months because I'm deeply engaged in non-photo activities of late. 

This Sunday morning however, the incessant calls of these newly arrived migrants forced me to open my camera bag and take out my long-unused rig. I was hoping that the birds have already recovered from the long migration flight - their torn feathers have improved and they have put on more weight, making them more photogenic.

This season's Brown Shrikes in the neighborhood seem to be less shy than usual. They actually don't mind me being around, and they transferred from perch to perch very close to me. I had to adjust the focus limiter of my 400 DO II to the nearer 3.3 m setting to allow focus to work at the shorter distance. The wider range has the disadvantage of slower focus speed, and it took me a good part of the morning to catch one in its short flight between perches.

There was a slight motion blur at the pixel level due to my jerky panning, but the image is nearly sharp enough when resized for web posting. Looks like I got hooked again (as usual), and I look forward to more fun-filled mornings ahead trying to catch these visitors in the air.

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Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus, migrant, male)

Habitat - Common in all habitats at all elevations. 

Shooting Info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, September 24, 7D MII + 400 f/4 DO II,
400 mm, f/5.0, ISO 320, 1/2000 sec, hand held, manual exposure in available light, major crop resized to 800 x 533.

Larger 1200 x 800 version