Brown Shrike Whiskers

Bird Whiskers

I didn't know this before; I just found out recently - some birds have 'whiskers'. I only came to know about this about a week ago while looking at some photographs of Brown Shrikes that I have taken with my new superzoom digital camera. These 'whiskers' are not visible from afar, viewed unaided with the naked eye; and neither was it visible with pictures taken with my 5x zoom low-end digital camera (what I have been using previously).

And so far, I have found out that Lineated Barbet, a rather common bird in my neighbourhood, have 'whiskers' too.

Rictal bristles, I think that's what ornithologists call them.

Welcome Back

Yes, the migratory bird, Brown Shrike, they are back in Ipoh. I first spotted one a month ago on September 16, 2016 at about 200 yards from my house. I now believe that there are at least 3 in my neighbourhood, happily shrieking away at their pleasure. It is quite easy to tell that there are 3 as when one shrieks, another will respond. At one time, I heard and counted 3 distinct calls.

There is a first too with this bird this year. They tend to be loners as far as I could tell, but just last week I saw 2 Brown Shrikes perching on the same tree together, albeit at some distance apart. I was quite sure that there was another one perching somewhere within the tree canopy of the same tree. I could hear it but I just could not catch sight of it.

These Brown Shrikes, they were quite timid initially when they first migrated back here. They will always fly away when they see me even though I was some 20 feet away. Getting good pictures of them with my camera was never easy then. I did try, at 40 or 50 feet away but the photos were nothing to shout about regrettably. Lots of vivid details, that's how I like my birding pictures; but there was none with pictures taken at this distance. I blame it on hardware limitation - if only I have deeper pockets.

Luckily, through the passing of time, they seem to have grown accustom to me and appear to be braver. I have had Brown Shrikes, not just once but on 3 separate occasions, flying in to perch on the electric wire overhead while I was weeding out front. It was checking me out I suppose. Once for a bit of fun, I decided to test their courage by walking under the wire (not directly under the bird though) just to see what it would do. Much to my surprise it did not fly away. Jolly good as I could then get close to them and take good pictures.

Taking This Picture

The picture above was taken while the bird was perching on the electric wire just outside a room window in my house. It was about 15 feet away from me. I don't think it knows I was there until a minute or two later when it turned around and stared at me - just admiring your beauty bird, no offence intended.

I can't recall how long it was perching there but I did take a lot of pictures. I just fired away practically. "Make hay while the sun shines" they say.

Note the 'whiskers' between the beak and the eyes in the picture above.