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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (4 Viewers)

PedroNicolau said:
Hmmm not sure it's the best one. Corvo has had better seasons (but with less birders).
Click to expand...

Pedro

I was thinking of the 29 American landbirds of 14 species on Friday 20th October:-
Dickcissel
Hooded Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler (2)
Common Yellowthroat (3)
Blackpoll Warbler (3)
Scarlet Tanager
Indigo Bunting
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (4)
Grey-cheeked Thrush
Red-eyed Vireo (8)

I'm not overly familiar with Corvo's records but have generally paid attention over the last decade. Do you have a day in mind that you believe was better? I felt that the variety this year has been exceptional.

All the best

Paul
 

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Has anybody heard any news of the guys? Are they just waiting until their departure to Iceland now? I hope they'll use their spare time better...
 
Maffong said:
Two sensible targets at the moment I believe: Stejneger's Stonechat in the Netherlands or Northern Shrike in Sweden
Click to expand...

Do you really mean that there is an American Northern Shrike in Sweden? Because they have already got "our" Northern Shrike in March. How do you determine the American from Eurasian Northern Shrike in field?
Where are they??
 
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Maffong said:
It actually looks fairly distinct. And I actually mean the American Northern Shrike. Our european one would now be called Great Grey Shrike
See here for the recent record
And here for ID features
And here
Click to expand...

According to your first link the Swedish bird belongs to subspecies borealis or sibiricus. Any idea if the bird from Öland is of eastern or nearctic origin? As far as I have understood borealis (distribution in nw Canada mainly) is the nominate subspecies of the newly split species, isn't it?
 
Frenchy said:
They're basically screwed now. Winds not looking favourable for the foreseeable, so they might even be better off just going somewhere left field, like Israel, Kuwait or Azerbaijan. Don't think they're going to miss a lot in NW Europe.
Click to expand...

All quiet in Kuwait at the moment. A long period of unseasonal southerly winds is not helping. There were 2 or 3 Shikra over the last few weeks but all migrants, none have stayed so far. The only other bird of interest in recent weeks was a Yellow Browed Warbler that I found at Mutla Ranch last Monday. Not sure I'd rushing here at the moment!
 
DanielDoer said:
According to your first link the Swedish bird belongs to subspecies borealis or sibiricus. Any idea if the bird from Öland is of eastern or nearctic origin? As far as I have understood borealis (distribution in nw Canada mainly) is the nominate subspecies of the newly split species, isn't it?
Click to expand...

IIRC, sibiricus is also now included in Northern Shrike. At the very least, that new IOC split does include populations in NE Asia. So a Northern Shrike in Europe doesn't necessarily have to come from the Nearctic.
 
Current treatment is this:

Northern Shrike Lanius borealis
L. b. sibiricus
L. b. bianchii
L. b. mollis
L. b. funereus
L. b. borealis
Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor
L. e. excubitor
L. e. homeyeri

In Sweden I believe an eastern occurrence is slightly more likely than a nearctic. Thus sibiricus would be the more likely subspecies. But no matter which subspecies, the species would always count under IOC. However it has't been seen the last two days, so i guess it's gone now?

Some pics here:
One
Two
Drei
Four
Five
 
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Maffong said:
Some pics here:
One
Two
Drei
Four
Five
Click to expand...

What a great bird! I would love to find something like that here!

In the article linked - http://www.martinbrandsma.nl/lanius-borealis-sibiricus-in-western-europe/ - Martin quotes Lars Svensson saying: "Lars Svensson has commented that some first winter nominate females can look pretty similar, and would prefer DNA-based evidence for certain identification".

Is this right? I have never seen any Great Grey Shrike that would look this sandy brown and would love to see a photo of one. Can anybody provide a link?

Finally here is a link to a painting by Tim Worfolk of many grey shrikes - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ROBKu_PDs...DlA/s1600/Birds+of+China+grey+shrikes+etc.jpg

B
 
Brian J Small said:
...

Is this right? I have never seen any Great Grey Shrike that would look this sandy brown and would love to see a photo of one. Can anybody provide a link?
...
Click to expand...

For me this bird looks really distinctive - great! And Maffong also stated that the species is distinctive. At least this individual seems to be so! I would also suspect the Siberian subspecies of Northern Grey Shrike to be slightly more realistic on Öland.
 

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