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Southern Grey Shrike subspecies (1 Viewer)

Ignacio

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

in my last visit to Morocco we saw two very distinctive forms of Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis. The first, mainly found north of the Antiatlas mountains, it's more greyish and has a distinctive white superciliar line. We initially identified it as L. m. algeriensis.

The second looks somewhat smaller and is much paler overall, with more white in the wing, and (as in the specimen of my photos) no white supercilium. It was found south of the Antiatlas, which seems to establish the border between the two forms. Initially we identify it as L. m. elegans, but the lack of white supercilium contradicts all the illustrations I've consulted. On the other hand, algeriensis is supposed to have very poorly defined supercilium, or none at all...

Any oppinions? You can see photos (clickable thumbnails) of both forms in http://www.iyufera.com/tr0-morocco/tr-morocco01.htm

Regards from Madrid,

Ignacio
www.iyufera.com
 
ALL the current literature on the racial identification of north African meridionalis shrikes is well out of date. But from what I can see your elegans is spot-on.
 
CJW said:
ALL the current literature on the racial identification of north African meridionalis shrikes is well out of date. But from what I can see your elegans is spot-on.
Chris,

Intriguing that you remark that current literature is out of date. I would be interested to know how you came to the conclusion that Ignacio's Shrike is elegans.

Regards
Tristan
 
I'm guessing Chris's experience of batting with the Manx Southern Grey Shrike has a lot to do with those comments Tris.
 
Jane Turner said:
I'm guessing Chris's experience of batting with the Manx Southern Grey Shrike has a lot to do with those comments Tris.

Tricky to sort out the running between the wickets i should imagine?

On a more serious note... the bird labelled algeriensis seems to have a heavier bill than that/those labelled elegans. Is that diagnostic/ down to individual variation/ just a trick of the photo?

James
 
CJW said:
Exactly so, Jane.
Chris,

Intriguing that you remark that current literature is out of date. I would be interested to know how you came to the conclusion that Ignacio's Shrike is elegans.

Regards
Tristan
 
Am I missing something here? What kind of answer is that, given from CJW to Tristan R when he asks a relevant question about elegans. If all the curent literature on the racial identification of north African meridionalis is well out of date, how come CJW thinks that Ignacio´s shrike is elegans? I know it, but do CJW?
Regards Jan.J
 
CJW said:
I suppose you would, yes.
Chris,

I am not sure what your issue is here.
I hoped you would be able to explain why you believe Ignacio's Shrike is elegans, so that us 'lesser mortals' could learn something!

Regards
Tristan
 
Um, I seem to be missing something here... It was an innocent question on my part...

And answering J. Lowther, yes, that's right, the one I think is algeriensis does have a somewhat bigger, heavier bill, together with an overall heavier look, although the darker tones may add to this impression (difficult to tell with certainty, since we never saw the two forms in the same area).

Regards,

Ignacio
www.iyufera.com
 
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