Flights of Fancy eBook Excerpt: Page 6 Brown Shrike

I saw just one of this bird, the Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) right there on the garden grounds of Suzette's Maligcong Homestay, the second shrike I've seen in Maligcong during my most recent trip.  It's a medium-sized bird, maybe foraging for insects in the garden by itself, staying some distance from the other birds like the sparrows and babblers.  

The word "Lanius" means butcher in Latin, owing to the fact that shrikes often impale their prey on thorns.  Usually found in open scrub habitats, its diet consists of moths and butterflies as well as smaller birds and lizards.

Image detail:  Taken with a Nikon B700, Manual Mode, Handheld | 2019 © Oggie Ramos

Flights of Fancy Maligcong Birding eBook Excerpt: Page 5 Brown Breasted Kingfisher

I actually was making a somewhat hasty escape from noisy/smoking/burping visitors from Suzette's Maligcong Homestay when I found this blue-winged Brown Breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon gularis) bird I previously saw about three months ago prior to my January visit. Talk about serendipity and luck!   I didn't actually set out to find him, not knowing if the blue streak I saw last November was still there.  Turns out he has stayed, roosting among the tall trees and eyeing the paddies full of water (some stocked with fishes), swooping down from time to time to grab a meal.  Who would've thought a kingfisher would roost somewhere near a bit far from the Chico river tributary?  | Image detail:  Taken with a Nikon B700, Manual Mode • 2019 Oggie Ramos