Whilst birding the Jubail area last weekend I found a number of
interesting shrikes. The one below was a difficult bird to identify for me so I
sent it to Brian Small and Alan Dean for help and confirmation. The opinion
from the experts on this one is it is a female Turkestan Shrike phoenicuroides. Although there is
possibly a very slight wash on the cheeks, the upperparts colour and tone, with
dark centres to the tertials hint at Turkestan. Close examination looks like
there are some slight crescnetal markings on the breast sides and the longest
tertial is also of a different age to the other two (white, narrow fringe). I
thank Brian and Alan for help with a number of my difficult shrikes over the
years and again for help with this one.
