Brown Shrike

That Sunday evening as I was returning from my photography round, I found this Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) sitting on an Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa) Tree. I was quite far away from the bird and there was no way I could approach the bird without startling this vigilant bird. I was holding Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens fitted with Canon EF 2X II Extender. Evening light was quite weak. I used a higher ISO of 800 to capture this bird. The pictures presented here are cropped by around 50%.

Shrikes are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of thirty-one species in three genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for “butcher”, and some shrikes were also known as “butcher birds” because of their feeding habits. Shrikes in general have a variety of names that arise from people’s observations of the bird’s feeding and food storage strategy. In Africa they are called as fiscals. That name comes from the Afrikaans word fiskaal (“public official”, especially a hangman)

Brown Shrike

This species is solitary except when breeding. They are found in open habitats where they can be seen sitting on a prominent perch like a treetop or a telegraph pole. A sit-and-wait hunter, they “hawk” or pounce on their prey, which includes large insects, small birds, reptiles and mammals. These birds use their feet to hold smaller insects whilst they rip them into bite-sized pieces. Larger prey are impaled upon a sharp point, such as a thorn or the barbs of barbed wire so they can be ripped open with the bird’s hooked bill. This also serves as a cache so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time. As this looked like butcher’s larder, the name “butcher birds” was given to it. The distinctive black bandit like mask through the eye also might have influenced this name.

Brown Shrike

The Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) is a bird in the shrike family that is found mainly in Asia. It is closely related to the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) and Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus). Like most other shrikes, it has a distinctive black “bandit-mask” through the eye. It is found mainly in open scrub habitats, where it perches on the tops of thorny bushes in search of prey. Several populations of this widespread species form distinctive subspecies which breed in temperate Asia and migrate to their winter quarters in tropical Asia. They are sometimes found as vagrants in Europe and North America.

The Brown Shrike is a migratory species and ringing studies show that they have a high fidelity to their wintering sites, returning to the same locations each winter. They begin establishing wintering territories shortly on arrival and their loud chattering or rattling calls are distinctive. Birds that arrive early and establish territories appear to have an advantage over those that arrive later in the winter areas.

Brown Shrike

The timing of their migration is very regular with their arrival in winter to India in August to September and departure in April. During their winter period, they go through a premigratory moult. Their song in the winter quarters is faint and somewhat resembles the call of the Rosy Starling (Sturnus roseus) and often includes mimicry of other birds. The beak remains closed when singing and only throat pulsations are visible although the bird moves its tail up and down while singing.

Brown Shrike

Micronia aculeata

That night coming home for dinner I spotted this moth on our kitchen floor. Being a pretty common moth around my house I assumed that I will get lot of information about this white moth. It was sitting on the vitrified floor tile which I have used in my kitchen. Dark clay color of the tile was a great contrast to the white, grey moth. Unfortunately the profile picture of the moth was impossible to get as it was sitting as though it was firmly stuck to the tile. That is why you see the picture from one angle here. I used Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 100mm F2.8L USM Macro lens illuminated with Canon Speedlite 580EXII fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter.

Micronia aculeata

When I searched internet for the information about this moth, I drew blank. Even thoughit is so common we hardly know anything about it. This Micronia aculeata moth belongs to Uraniidae family of moths. Unfortunately I could not find any common name for this moth. Some have called it Wayanad greystripe moth. It is found throughout India, China, Taiwan, SriLanka, Burma; Andaman, Java and Borneo. The adult moths of this species have speckled pale brown wings with two faint darker submarginal bands. Each forewing has a hooked apex, and at the tornus of each hindwing there is a short tail with a black spot.

Micronia aculeata

Like many moths in the family Uraniidae, the moth has its wings open and flat in its resting posture. It is also a day flying moth. Thanks to Haneesh K.M we have Life cycle of Micronia aculeata on Flickr. Host plant for its caterpillar is Green Milkweed Climber Wattakaka volubilis.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

Returning after a busy day for a cup of coffee I noticed a spider on the granite pillar which leads to my house. When I built my house I got these local rough granite pillars from granite quarry in the nearby town of Karkala. 16 such tall stone pillars stand supporting roof of my pathway to my house. They are safe heavens for potter wasps who love to build nests. I had several social wasps building small hives before their larvae being eaten by neighboring potter wasps. Being rough it is a nice playing ground for Calotes lizards. That day I spotted a spider which was perfectly camouflaged to the granite background on that pillar. I could spot it only because it was holding a dark dead bee in its mouth and feeding on it. Later I could identify it as Two-Tailed Spider (Hersilia savignyi)

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

I quickly grabbed my Canon EOS 5D mark II flitted with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM. For illumination I used Canon Speedlite 580EX II fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter. For closeup work I use this setup as the Ray Flash Adapter produces nice diffuse light which does not give out harsh highlights. Only drawback I see is that you can see the reflection ring light as white ring on the reflective parts of the subject. After using Rayflash adapter I have nearly stopped using Canon MT-24EX macro twin light flash which I have.I think I need to start using macro twin light flash again with some diffuser so that I can reduce the reflection of ringlight and make the picture look natural. As the spider was stationary feeding on the bee, I had plenty of opportunity to photograph the spider from all the angles.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

Being very well camouflaged for life, these spiders have an interesting way of capturing prey. The members of Hersiliidae family are flat, medium sized spiders that have a cryptic appearance and are usually found on tree trunks. These are very fast running, active hunting spiders. The most easily distinguishable feature of Hersiliidae is the extremely long posterior lateral spinnerets, which are often longer than the abdomen and sometimes approaching the total body length, hence the name two- tailed spiders. The body coloring is brown to match the color of the dry bark that the spider is normally resting on and camouflages well. The flattened body allows them to lie very close to the bark without casting any shadow or enables them to hide in the narrowest of cracks.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

They are occasionally encountered on walls and rocks. When disturbed, the spider runs very swiftly to the opposite side of the tree with the spinnerets raised like a pair of horns. The spider sits on the tree trunk and spreads the silk over the nearby area. When a small insect comes close, the insect disturbs the silk and the spider senses this. The spider will quickly run around the insect in circles, with the insect in the center. The spider will also lay more silk at the same time, until the insect is entangled in it. They are active hunters living on tree trunks, old walls or under stones and at most spinning a scanty web of irregular threads. A total of six species of three genera are reported from India so far. Next day I saw the same spider with another grasshopper as its victim. I had another photo session with it which you can see in the last two photos on this page.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

Hersilia savignyi Lucas 1836, is commonly called Two-tailed spider. Distributed throughout India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka. Cephalothorax is flat and almost circular, slightly broader than long, with a prominently high clypeus. Anterior and posterior eyes are strongly recurved, anterior laterals positioned half way between the anterior and posterior medians. Legs, except the third pair, very long and slender and are armed with three claws. Tarsi of legs I, II and III two-segmented. Abdomen is flat, almost circular, slightly broader than long. Posterior lateral spinnerets are very long, much longer than the abdomen. The colour is greyish with a darkish lanceolate cardiac area and dark transverse margins posteriorly. Legs and spinnerets annulated with dark rings.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

It lives on tree trunks, often spotted on trunks of coconut palms in a head down position. It feeds on moths, ants and other smaller spiders. Cocoon is generally laid in the crevices of trees. It runs round the tree when disturbed. It is a very common spider in our tree barks and exhibits colour variation according to the substrate on which it is found.