Juvenile Red-tailed Shrike? At Bahrain, 4th Nov 2022 (1 Viewer)

[rsriram9]

Hi. Is this a juvenile Red-tailed Shrike or a juvenile Isabelline Shrike?
Thanks for your help!

 

[mummymonkey]

Things have moved on a lot since I birded in that part of the world but I would have put this one down as an Isabelline shrike.
There's an excellent article here that might help.

https://www.dutchbirding.nl/journal/pdf/DB_2000_22_6.pdf

 

[andyb39]

I'm not so sure. The bird has strikingly white underparts. I admit the upperparts look rather pale brown and there isn't as much of a contrast between the upperside and underside as you'd expect, but the throat, what little we can see of it, looks white. There seems to be a yellowish patch between the slight malar and the throat, but I don't know if that's enough to exclude Red-tailed/Turkestan. It's hard to judge the colour tones in this harsh desert light. We can at least see there isn't much of a supercilium, but this is probably OK for a 1st-winter bird (I say that as there's still some faint barring remaining on the crown and nape). The bill, pink with a dark tip, fits Red-tailed better. Some more images might help.

 

[rsriram9]

I'm not so sure. The bird has strikingly white underparts. I admit the upperparts look rather pale brown and there isn't as much of a contrast between the upperside and underside as you'd expect, but the throat, what little we can see of it, looks white. There seems to be a yellowish patch between the slight malar and the throat, but I don't know if that's enough to exclude Red-tailed/Turkestan. It's hard to judge the colour tones in this harsh desert light. We can at least see there isn't much of a supercilium, but this is probably OK for a 1st-winter bird (I say that as there's still some faint barring remaining on the crown and nape). The bill, pink with a dark tip, fits Red-tailed better. Some more images might help.

Thanks very much Graham and Andy. I have attached some more images, hope these help.

 

[rsriram9]

Things have moved on a lot since I birded in that part of the world but I would have put this one down as an Isabelline shrike.
There's an excellent article here that might help.

https://www.dutchbirding.nl/journal/pdf/DB_2000_22_6.pdf

Thanks for the superb article!