Isabelline / Turkestan Shrikes, various countries (1 Viewer)

Nutcracker said:

I'll hazard a guess on phoenicuroides for #2, and isabellinus for ##1, 3, 4 and perhaps 5. Probably wrong on some or all of them . . .

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andyb39 said:

I'm not a specialist on these but I'll have a go. Valery, if you have any more images of any of these birds, could you post them?

1. I'm undecided - it looks a bit like female Turkestan at first glance, but the super isn't broad enough, the upperparts are a bit too pale and the underparts don't look clean white enough. Also lacks a dark tip to the bill.
2. Classic male Turkestan.
3. Another difficult bird - two-tone bill and clean white underparts and throat with faint chevrons suggest Turkestan, but more images needed.
4. Isabelline - too pale on the underparts and too buff on the underparts, so there's a lack of contrast.
5. Probably Isabelline, despite the gingery crown and very broad eyestripe, as the underparts are too warmly-coloured - I think it's a general rule of thumb that any buff wash on the underparts should be restricted to the flanks on Turkestan. I would like to see more images though.

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andyb39 said:

I think the new image of no.1 (in your original post) tips the balance in favour of Turkestan, but I'm still undecided about no.3. It does have a two-tone bill and some scales/chevrons on the flanks, so it could be Turkestan, but I can't judge the underpart coloration or assess the contrast between the underparts and upperparts. I wish I could see it from the rear.

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