When I started birdwatching a few years ago, I never thought I would learn to differentiate the sounds of various birds, but these days, it is the cry of a bird I’ve never heard before that calls my attention when I ride by, as opposed to spotting the bird by sight first.
I love discovering new species (new to me, that is) and on one of our most recent rides, we stumbled upon some three yellow-billed shrikes – a first-timer for me.
The yellow-billed shrike [corvinella corvina] is a noisy bird (good thing or I wouldn’t have spotted it!) that feeds on insects. It has a wide range and can be seen from Senegal all the way to Uganda. For me, it was a first sighting, but I definitively hope it will not be the last!
9 users commented in " Birdwatch Niger: The Yellow-billed Shrike "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackNice catch … I love it when I see something new. It makes my day and I hold my breath until I can get home and download it (crossing my fingers that I got a good shot). How nice for you to find something new and get the good shot …
Andrea @ From The Sol
I wish my hearing was acute enough to remember individual bird calls, it’s just a jumble for me.
Wonderful to see beautiful Niger!
Cheers Esther!
Wish I was better at identifying birds from sound. Know a few, but am more visual.
Great capture!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
Lovely to see this!
A great post for WBW!
He blends in well in his surroundings.
In the two years I’ve been bird watching I still can’t tell but maybe one or two different birds from their calls.
Shrikes are cool birds. Cool sighting!
We get to see the brown shrike throughout the winter months but I haven’t heard of this one. That bill sure look pretty!!
What a long tail it has. Isn’t it amazing how much we learn about birds by photographing them?
We are hearing terrible things about drought in Niger. I hope your area is not too badly affected.
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