ML164000441

Age and sex

Unknown age, Unknown sex - 1

Tags

Habitat

Media notes

Photo cropped from top & bottom. Auto-corrected for brightness & contrast.

Observation details

New County Bird for us. This continuing shrike was seen on the low hillside above Brush Creek about 100-meters upstream from mouth. DESCRIPTION: Bi-colored bill, brown back, white throat, white breast, R5 & R6 dark brown with terminal tip dusky white; R1-R4 growing in; black mask continues narrowly across bill; feathered nostrils; white forehead stripe. Fluffs up throat when quietly vocalizing. Regurgitated black chitonous material. Originally found on 15 March & identified then as Brown Shrike, it has generated a lot of discussion as to true identity. I compared my photos with skins at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, and I came to the conclusion that it was an Isabelline Shrike or hybrid of that species with Brown Shrike. Unfortunately, it has not sufficiently morphed into alternate plumage, for me to conclusively identify it. But since Red-tailed Shrike/Red-backed Shrike/Isabelline Shirke is a 3-way split, I'm inclined to accept the hybrid offered by eBird.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS REBEL T3

ISO

100

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

609 pixels x 457 pixels

Original file size

213.43 KB