Woodchat Shrike - France (1 Viewer)

So two questions

Lovely walk and picnic in Argeles - I had wanted to go migration watching but the cloud was in and I couldn't see my nose!

I was literally on the phone to my dad saying the earliest i had seen a Woodchat in this area was the 24/07 a few years back when there was an adult Woodchat, then a second then two juvs.

The question about the adults is can you differentiate between the sexes? I'm thinking that the clearer bird is the female it looks a little browner int he tail area and the head pattern. Apologies for the quality of the second picture - it's awful but does seem to show blacker band...

As for the Juvs, and bizarely was exactly the same question I asked a couple of years ago and bizarely in exactly the same spot, The seocnd bird is clearly Woodchat for me but juv 1 shows an extremely red back although the bill is a monster! The previous birds were all confirmed as Woodchats...

NB Should point out that NO territories have been confirmed for our region although they are regular birds... I'm convinced they breed here which this would suggest.

Both juvs look like Red-backed to me

Hi Rosbifs
sexing adults is pretty easy with much redder chestnut head and black tail feathers in male
As to the juvies, these 2 do not show the bold white pattern on median coverts and scapulars, so both look Red-backed to my eyes with no 1 with a prey in the bill

A genuine request as it is ages since I've seen any juvenile shrikes, but shouldn't Woodchat show a pale base to the primaries and a pale band across the scapulars?

Darn it - attention to detail. I guess it was a little auto suggestion and I was going on lighter colour on the second bird - at least I got the other right! Didn't check the wing pattern for the panel - for one...

As for the adults I was trying to get closer to the first bird when saw second adult so I didn't get a better view or picture - I was then concentrating on the juvs.

rosbifs said:

Darn it - attention to detail. I guess it was a little auto suggestion and I was going on lighter colour on the second bird - at least I got the other right! Didn't check the wing pattern for the panel - for one...

As for the adults I was trying to get closer to the first bird when saw second adult so I didn't get a better view or picture - I was then concentrating on the juvs.

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Don't give up your quest though, a feather in your cap() the day you prove breeding up there!

Could the monster bill be because it's holding food?
Keep the good birds until 29 Aug!

dragnil said:

Could the monster bill be because it's holding food?
Keep the good birds until 29 Aug!

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See post 3!