brown shrike @ labrador nature reserve - Dec 2012

Came across this lovely little brown bird on the rusty barbed wire fence at the Labrador Park Nature Reserve.

Shrikes seem to prefer perches with sharp ends like plants with thorns and barbed wire fences. They are known to impale prey such as insects and lizards on sharp objects before consuming them. The brown shrike appears to be a winter visitor which appears in Singapore during the period from about October to March. This one is an adult brown shrike as it has a distinctive black eye band. Note the curved beak tip and the long talons. This bird may be small but it is a bird of prey no less.

Find out more about this winter migrant here :

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=5528
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrike

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Shrike

http://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=122062

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Lanius-cristatus

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/environment/NHR/Shrike/hail.html
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/shrikes.htm
http://singaporebirds.blogspot.sg/2012/06/shrikes.html

brown shrike @ seletar link mangrove

Came across what i initially thought was a sparrow sitting on a scrubby bush at the mangroves. On a closer look, it had a black stripe across the eye. Checking my bird guide showed it to be a Brown Shrike. 

Read more about the brown shrike :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Shrike

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/brown-shrike-lanius-cristatus

http://www.besgroup.org/2012/02/06/brown-shrike%E2%80%93-adult-female-with-nesting-material-and-behaviour/

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/09/06/brown-shrike-impaling-caterpillar-before-eating-it/

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/03/odd-feeding-behaviour-of-the-brown-shrike/

Time : 6.35pm, 25 Feb 2012

Location : Seletar Link mangrove