Saturday, August 27, 2011

Hanging with the shrikes


I see the first shrike of the day on a wooden bench.


Then I realize there's a few more shrikes in the trees. I sat on a picnic table under the tree and was watching them. One flies onto the picnic table with a worm in it's mouth. It seemed to be showing me his catch. I had to get up and back up since he was to close to get a picture.


I spotted another one with a worm on the ground.


I finally started to leave and stopped along the seawall to take a picture of the jellyfish. This little guy flies down and sits right next to me. Was he trying to tell me something? He then flew over to the nearby tree. I followed him and took the below picture.


On my recent trip to Davis Islands, I must have seen at least 10 loggerhead shrikes. The most I've ever seen together at one time is 3. They were everywhere in the trees that run along the sea wall. They acted like they were used to having people around and got pretty close to me. They are tiny songbirds that hunt their prey like a hawk. I've always had a hard time getting decent pictures of the face with the black mask trying to hide their eyes. I was happy the sun was out and gave off good light that morning. I did use my flash on the one with the worm since he was sitting under the tree in the shade.

2 comments:

  1. oh my god!!! these are fantastic! that last shot - showing his glorious eyelashes - WOW! what beauties!!! perfect shots!!!

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  2. OK Dina, I am sooooo jealous, I can't tell you. I feel lucky to see a Loggerhead Shrike maybe every other year, and here you are, not only seeing several together, but chasing you down to pose for you? What's up with that?

    These are the best Loggerhead Shrike photos I have ever seen. As you said, to get the light right to highlight that black eye, surrounded by black is not easy. That last portrait shot is just amazing! Congratulations!

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