Taman Rimba Kiara is a little green gem located in a corner of the TTDI residential area. The above flowering tree, the firmiana malayana or mata lembu, flashes in testimony to man's care-less-ness - it's one of only two trees in the park that had flowered, since then the tree had been chopped down.

Wednesday, 10 October 2018

Shrike's bill

I have been waiting for another opportunity to shoot a Shrike for a clearer image of its bill ever since I read about its raptor-like bill, and managed at last the following images of a Brown Shrike, and extract description from the Oriental Bird Club website:

"... Tomial ‘teeth’ are “ventral projections along the rostral tomium of the rhamphotheca” [see Sustaita (2014), Cade (1995), Schön (1996)]. These of course are not real ‘teeth’ and are not coated in enamel but keratin. They can be easily missed in the field except at close range. The corresponding indentations in the lower mandible are even harder to appreciate. ... Lefranc (1997) describes the feature in Lanius shrikes: they have “raptor-like bills …. The upper mandible shows a subterminal tominal tooth on each side and the lower mandible has corresponding incurvations. This shape bears strong resemblance to that of falcons…” ‏A number of on-line article have described tomial teeth in shrikes as being used to ‘sever the spinal cord’ or ‘deliver the killing stroke’ with some offering detailed work, see for example Sustaita (2014)."




Another angle to its bill.


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