Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A Brown Shrike & A Starling



Another bird that I see on the wires near our house is the shrike. When I first noticed it the thought that came to my mind was..Oh, a bird with eye make up! It's a reddish brown bird and has a black line through eye to ear coverts. My book on birds tells me that it is a winter visitor throughout the subcontinent. Some stay on till June. Its diet consists of large insects, small birds, mammals, lizards.



Brown Shrike

Grey-headed starling

The Grey-headed starling is also known as the Chestnut-tailed starling

I'm seeing more of these birds now. The reason is that the Coral trees in our neighbourhood are in bloom and they are visited by several birds throughout the day. The Asian Pied starlings are more commonly seen than these Grey-headed ones. They come in pairs , are noisy but the bird chatter also includes delightful notes. They feed largely on berries, nectar and insects. ( The books that I refer to while writing some of my bird posts are: 
 1. The Book of Indian Birds by Dr. Salim Ali 2. Common Birds of the Indian Subcontinent.


To see more of our feathered friends visit World Bird Wednesday.


Enjoy and Participate!

17 comments:

Sylvia K said...

I love your header!! So beautiful and so are your birds for the day! Delightful captures! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Sylvia

Carletta said...

A lovely series!
I enlarged to find such lovely soft feather detail in the second shot!

Ginny Hartzler said...

We have Shrikes here, but I don't know if I've ever seen one, they are so plain and blend in. What a scary name for such a plain little bird! The only starlings we have are the European ones, your pictures are good!

Unknown said...

Great sighting!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

theconstantwalker said...

Many thanks for sharing your wonderful birds.

Sallie (FullTime-Life.com said...

Good shots! The shrike does look like it is wearing eye makeup.

mick said...

Great photos. I like the idea of a bird wearing eye make-up!

Tatjana Parkacheva said...

Sweet bird.

Regards and best wishes

eileeninmd said...

Great sighting and photos. It would be a new bird for me,thanks for sharing.

lotusleaf said...

Kanak, I admire your bird pictures. I can only take the pictures of water birds because they browse quietly.

NatureStop said...

Hi Kanak,I love your header and it's so nice to see your pics on birds...it is getting hotter here so the birds are disappearing and I can spot a purple sunbird on and off at my neighbours and that itself makes me happy. Hopefully some day I will start posting in a new blog...ha ha ha haven't started it yet...Chandana is coming over and am really excited:)

so long take care!!!
Ruby.

EG CameraGirl said...

It's interesting the different shrubs that attract wildlife, I think.

Pat said...

Nice shots!

joo said...

Your photos are so lovely!

Springman said...

Fascinating as always!
;-)WBW!

Rambling Woods said...

I wonder if your starlings are related to the european starling that was introduced here in the states.. They are very vocal and smart....Michelle

Chronicles of Illusions said...

it is great to see these different birds