Isabelline type Shrike – Mid may 2006

I found this interesting" Isabelline" type Shrike at Yotvata's circular field on May 16th. Isabelline Shrikes are rare in Israel and are normally autumn migrants. Any spring record is interesting.

With the relatively recent changes and splits in the "Isabelline" Shrike complex, it is interesting to try and identify every individual, in order to understand the migration patterns of the different species, especially in spring.

In Israel the most frequent form is the Daurian Shrike L. isabellinus isabellinus, (formerly known as L. i. speculigerus), which breeds in Mongolia and North China, and winters in S. Arabia and East Africa.

Much rarer is Turkestan Shrike L. isabellinus phoenicuroides, which breeds in Iran, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan and winters in central and E. Africa. In Israel there are only a handful of confirmed records of this form. Interestingly enough, the last confirmed record of Turkestan Shrike was a spring record (a beautiful adult male found in Neot Smadar in May 2003).

Chinese Shrike, L. i. arenarius, which breed in the Tarim basin of NW China, should also be considered when dealing with birds in Israel and Eastern Europe. Even though Chinese Shrike is a short range migrant and is the least likely to make it to our neck of the woods, stranger things have happened.

Adult male "Isabelline" type Shrikes are quite distinct and pose no real id problems. The bird I found is probably an adult female and we find ourselves puzzled as to the exact (sub)species. I won't delve into the various plumage features of female Isabelline type Shrikes but I will point out the fact that this bird was identified by several people as phoenicuroides, and several others identified it as isabellinus.

It's worth mentioning that some Isabelline Shrikes show overlapping features of both species and cannot be positively identified in the field.

We would appreciate any comments from birders with experience with this interesting complex.

Enjoy the images.

Jonathan Meyrav

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