As
mentioned 13 March we caught and ringed a number of Turkestan and Daurian
Shrikes. The same happened the following weekend when we caught two Turkestan
Shrikes including a male and a single Daurina Shrike. This made six birds,
three Turkestan and three Daurian in two weeks which equaled the total amount
caught at nearby Alba Marsh in Bahrain where we ringed for three years prior to
gaining permission to ring in Saudi Arabia. Although great birds to see in the
hand they are troublesome to remove from the nets as try to bite any piece of
skin that they see so the fingers are fair game and invariably get bitten and
regularly they draw blood. As a result there is a mixture of happiness and
trepidation when you see a shrike in the net. Daurian Shrikes will be moving
out in the next week or so but Turkestan Shrikes continue to be seen for
another month and they are soon joined by a big wave of Red-backed Shrikes. I
was fairly certain with the identification of the birds but asked Tim Worfolk
for help with confirmation of which he kindly provided me with his
identification that agreed with my original thoughts. I am very grateful to Tim
for his help. The shrikes
we caught appeared to be a straightforward Turkestan with nice contrast between
the darkish upperparts and whitish underparts, with the dark scalloping on
throat and breast appearing to be dark. The second bird was slightly more
problematic; appearing to be a similar tone on the upperparts, but slightly
greyer to the first bird but was much more buffy coloured on the supercilium,
throat and breast so is probably a well-marked Daurian.
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| Turkestan Shrike |
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| Turkestan Shrike |
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| Daurian Shrike |
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| Daurian Shrike |
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| Turkestan Shrike - male |
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| Turkestan Shrike - male |