13 : Brown Shrike

Brown Shrike - Lanius Cristatus.

I am not sure if this is an ordinairy Brown Shrike or perhaps a sub-species from the Philipines. I am not counting sub-species in my long journey. I have to give myself half a chance. I am posting this as a Brown Shrike. I think it probably is just a Brown Shrike. The Philipine subspecies has a "clear grey crown and mantle" which is not so evident on this bird.

This is my last catch-up post to put me back on a bird a day. This is not best photo today but if you read "The Task" you will note that I reserve the right to post bad photos as necessary in order to "stamp" a species on my web-site.

Yes you guessed it - Yala again, Sri Lanka. One of the 80 or 90 new species I saw in 48 hours. At one point I was seeing one of these birds every 20 or so yards. I love shrikes. They are an "ooh ah" bird for me. Probably because they are extinct as a regular breeding bird in the UK where I come from. The Red Backed Shrike held out in Wales and the West country for a while but then died out at its last regular breeding location in 1989. It is only seen on migration now. I expect there is the odd breeding pair but if there is they will be hushed up. So to me shrikes are rare, beautiful and exotic creatures. What a shame.

They are pugnacious viscious little things and take all manner of small prey from large insects to small rodents, chicks and reptiles. I expect in Sri Lanka geckos, small skinks and the like would have a good chance of appearing on the menu.

This was a first for me and quite a handsome bird with the black bandit mask and buffy tones. I will make up for the poor shot of the bird with another Yala shot. You can see elephants in the same sort of numbers as you can in Africa - delightful.

Brown Shrike - Lanius Cristatus
Yala National Aprk, Sri Lanka, 15-17 April 2011