Sunday, August 26, 2012

Crouching Tiger

Early morning found me at home, musing upon the fact that passerine migration has started but it is four years since I saw my last (actually my only ever) Tiger Shrike.  Reading through Round (2008) it seems that now is the peak time for their arrival in and around Bangkok, but in recent years there have been decreasing numbers of records, and so I was thinking that the chances of running into one were diminishing.

Low and behold not an hour later I was at the Ministry of Public Relations, taking a walk with my bins (and having already logged an Eastern Crowned Warbler) when a juv Tiger Shrike popped into view, high in the canopy!  The bird dropped in closer, fanning, closing and pumping its tail in seemingly measured agitation.  During my musings upon my lack of records it crossed my mind that perhaps I'd overlooked a few in the past (ie poorly seen Brown Shrikes), but upon seeing this one in the flesh I was reminded of how very different they are from Brown Shrikes, and indeed its whole 'jizz' and unobtrusive nature was more reminiscent of a Shrike-babbler than a "true" shrike.  I went back with the camera a little while later, but alas the bird had moved on.

1 comment:

James said...

Hi – Will you please post a link to your Blog at The Birding Community? Our members will love it.
It's easy just cut and paste the link and it automatically links back to your website… it’s a win win. You can also add Photos and Videos and join Birding discussions if you like.
Email me if you need any help or would like me to do it for you.
The Birding Community: http://www.vorts.com/birding/
Thanks,
James Kaufman, Editor