First winter Isabelline Shrikes – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Here are two ‘Isabelline Shrikes’ caught and ringed at Alba Marsh Bahrain last weekend, but which type or species are they? There are two types that occur in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, The Daurian Shrike ‘isabellinus’ and the Turkestan Shrike ‘phoenicuroides’. These are treated as separate species by Panov 2009 and the latest IOC update v2.0, due to the spatial separation of breeding areas and the apparent absence of gene flow between them in allopatric/parapatric zones (Panov 2009).
Daurian Shrike is polytypic: in Panov's (2009) view, 3 sspp, isabellinus , (subsuming arenarius ) tsaidamensis, speculigerus . Winters much of South Central Asia, Southeast Iran and Afghanistan some reaching Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula as well as perhaps East Africa. Hybridises with Red-backed Shrike L collurio at range overlap.
Turkestan Shrike is monotypic Panov (2009). Winters Central Asia East & South of a line Aral-Southern Caspian including much Iran, Afghanistan,Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan, Kyrgyzstan L&W 1997; Winters Southeast Iran, Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula & East & Weast Africa.

This species pair is difficult to identify in the field as first years unless classic birds are seen. These two birds are far from classic although it looks like both species may be involved. There is still a lot to learn about the true identification features of them and more careful study will hopefully help. DNA has been taken of these birds and will, hopefully allow us to identify them to species. Martin Garner recently put together a brief outline of the difference of the two species on his website:

First winter Daurian Shrike - Overall gingery wash to the brownish upperparts with gingery orange colouring prominent on the flanks but extending from rear flanks all the way up to below ear coverts. The centre of the throat and central breast/ belly are white. The tertials are darker brown but not strongly contrastng with the upper parts. Mask slightly darker brown with gingery wash at some angles- not blackish brown. Rump brighter orange with only very weak dark marks on some feathers tips. Orange centred median coverts
First winter Daurian Shrike - Should have cold earth brown to grey brown upper parts with darker (almost blackish) mask and flight feathers. Upper parts contrasting strongly with mostly clean white underparts marked with blacker bars/chevrons. More often retained juvenile feathers in rump and mantle/scapulars with white or black centres to median coverts (not orange).

A good catch – Jasaer (Bahrain)

An early trip to Jasaer in Bahrain meant we had our five nets up by 06:00 hrs. We caught steadily all morning and ended up with 31 birds of eleven species. These included two Common Chiffchaffs, 10 Willow Warblers, three Common Redstarts, Upcher’s Warbler, four House Sparrows, two Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins, two Desert Lesser Whitethroats, Laughing Dove, three Turkestan Shrikes, two Common Whitethroats and a Menetries’s Warbler. Willow Warblers have now replaced Common Chiffchaff as the most common species caught. The Lesser Whitethroats appear to be Desert Whitethroat from measurements and tail pattern and I will try to get some DNA work done on loose feathers from the birds to try to ascertain if this is a correct identification.

Common Redstart - immature male

Common Redstart - female

Common Whitethroat

Desert Whitethroat

Desert Whitethroat - tail pattern

Menetries's Warbler - female

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler - wing

Turkestan Shrike - adult male

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Catching Good Migrants - Ringing at Jasaer (Bahrain)

We arrived at Jasear at 05:45 hrs and set up four of our five nets in their normal places. We moved one net to a location inside some bushes rather than on the edge of them to see if it would yield more results. Migration had been a bit slow in Saudi Arabia over the preceding week so I was not too confident we would have a good catch. As it turned out we caught 36 birds of various species including a number of good birds. Initially we caught quite a few Common Chiffchaffs all of which appeared to be of the sub-species abientinus. A few shrikes were also caught with Daurian, Turkestan and Woodchat Shrikes all being caught including a nice adult male Turkestan Shrike.

Common Chiffchaff

Turkestan Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

The best bird was a female Semi-collared Flycatcher which is an uncommon species in the region with most birds seen being males. Neither of us had ringed this species before so Nicole ringed the bird as she is the most experienced ringer. The typical wing pattern was quite obvious on this bird and rules out the very similar Collared Flycatcher. Other good migrants included two female Menetries’s Warblers and a blythi type Lesser Whitethroat very different to the Hume’s type caught the week before in the same site.

Semi-collared Flycatcher - female

Semi-collared Flycatcher - female

Semi-collared Flycatcher - female

Menetries's Warbler - female

Lesser Whitethroat

We also caught two female Common Redstarts but failed to catch the really smart male samamisicus bird that was seen near the nets all morning. The remainder of the catch was made up of House Sparrows but we had a really good day with a few really good birds.

Common Redstart

Ringing some migrants – Jasaer (Bahrain)

An early morning ringing trip saw me going to Jasaer rather than our normal site of Alba Marshes. As migration has picked up in Saudi Arabia, I thought it would be a good idea to try for a few migrants as this site is on the coast of Bahrain. It is a site with a few trees and a place where Brendan and Abdulla have ringed in the past. One very nice thing about the site was it was dry and I did not need to wear waders, another was it did not smell like a sewer. We set up all five nets in various places and although the place was not full of migrants there were a few birds about. We caught 12 birds including four House Sparrows, three Common Chiffchaffs, two Daurian Shrikes, one Turkestan Shrike, an eastern Lesser Whitethroat and a Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin. We had one retrap Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin which Abdulla had ringed at the same site three days before. The Eastern Lesser Whitethroat is an interesting bird as it is a dark individual with a long wing and may be of the race althaea sometimes treated as a searate species Humes Whitethroat? although the races of Lesser Whitethroat are very complex and intergrades are common.

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Humes Whitethroat

Humes Whitethroat

Humes Whitethroat

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

House Sparrow - female

House Sparrow - male

Common Chiffchaff

Common Chiffchaff

Ringing site

Daurian & Turkestan Shrikes - Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Whilst ringing at Alba Marsh last weekend we caught two shrikes in the mist nets. Luckily for me I was not around to extract them and my fingures were saved. I was, however, able to ring both birds and Turkestan Shrike was a new ringing species for me. The Daurian shrike was a female type and the Turkestan Shrike a first year male. There are plenty of shrikes around at present in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain so it was not too surprising we caught a couple. The Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) was previously treated as conspecific with Red-backed Shrike L collurio (Vaurie, 1959) or with both Red-backed & Brown Shrike L cristatus (Dement’ev & Gladkov, 1954). Until recently, it has generally been treated as a separate species comprising four sub-species: two, phoenicuroides and isabellinus breeding in central Asia and migrating southwest, wintering in Arabia and NE Africa; two other subspecies arenarius & tsaidamensis, breeding in North China and are shorter distance migrants, wintering in Pakistan and NW India west to Iran. Another proposal by Russian authors who have been studying these birds within their breeding ranges for years, is to consider this taxon as two independent species: the Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus and Turkestan Shrike L. phoenicuroides (Korelov 1970, Panov & Kryukov 1973, Kryukov 1995, Panow 1996). This view was adopted in a new checklist of Russian bird species (Koblik et al 2006), which was compiled to improve on previous lists by Stepanyan (1978, 1990). This Russian thinking has recently been adopted by the Dutch committee for systematics (CSNA) who "split" the "isabelline" shrike complex into three species in 1998 (Sangster et al, 1998). This was based on the grounds of "qualitative differences in morphology and analyses of their contact zone" and "vocalizations" (Sangster 1998). They name them as follows: L isabellinus (formerly speculigerus), Daurian Shrike, L phoenicuroides, Turkestan Shrike; L arenarius (formerly isabellinus) and tsaidamensis, Chinese Shrike.

 Turkestan Shrike (2nd CY Male)

 Turkestan Shrike (2nd CY Male)

 Turkestan Shrike (2nd CY Male)

 Daurian Shrike (female)

Daurian Shrike (female)