A Great Grey Shrike

7th - 11th November 2013 - Colaton Raleigh Common

 

I have a bit of history with shrikes, many years ago I illustrated 'Shrikes; a Guide to the Shrikes of the World' by Norbert Lefranc, I painted the shrike plates for HBW and have written or illustrated papers on 'Steppe' Grey Shrike and Isabelline and Brown Shrikes. They're always good value and I find it hard to resist going to see one when it's nearby. On Tuesday 5th of November Chris Townend found a Great Grey Shrike on Colaton Raleigh Common - see Cream Tea Birding for his account and photos. I haven't seen a Great Grey for a couple of years so last Thursday I went to look for it. I eventually tracked it down but got only distant views and the photos were of a quality usually described as 'record shots'.

Great Grey Shrike - 7/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

Great Grey Shrike - 7/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

I posted the sighting, with a photo, on Devon Bird News, Mike Langman then emailed me to question the size of the white wing-patch and wondered if this was a different bird to Chris's. I had already considered the possibility but eventually put it down to different postures and/or angles. Clearly the question would best be answered by closer views and better photos. So four days later and several hours of roaming about the common - during which I managed to get my first half decent photos of Dartford Warbler and a found a Richard's Pipit (call only unfortunately) - I caught up with the bird again.

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

Maybe they're not that much better but a slight improvement, I think. It doesn't seem to have that much of a primary patch now, more obvious in flight - see below, but I think that the secondaries are covering the widest area of white on the inner primaries. It's got an obvious pale base to the lower mandible, the lores are not solidly black and there are distinctly pale (though not white, I think) tips to all the greater coverts. Ageing Great Grey Shrikes can be tricky but those coverts are a good sign that it's a bird of the year, while adults can show neat white tips when fresh but these look a little too 'messy' and diffuse. At times I could see very faint scalloping on the breast and flanks, just visible on the next shot.

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

It moved around often, trying different perches to scout from, sometimes flycatching. At one point a Pied Wagtail took offence at its presence and followed it, at what it presumably thought was a safe distance, in attempt to drive it off. The shrike didn't care for this and flew off calling once, a harsh almost jay-like screech. I managed to get a few flight shots.

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

Great Grey Shrike - 11/11/2013 Colaton Raleigh Common

OK, I'll admit these photos are nothing to be proud of but at least they nicely show the spread wings and tail. Those pale-tipped greater coverts are quite obvious but there's something else interesting: that's a rather large primary patch but there's none on the secondaries. Isn't that a character of pallidirostris 'Steppe' Grey Shrike*? I admit that when I first saw the bird in flight it did cross my mind for a moment. However, nothing else looks anything like a pallidirostris, particularly a 1st winter. The structure is all wrong, the bill is not heavy and bulbous, the wings are quite short and P9 (numbered descendently) is no longer than P5 (longer than P6 in pallidirostris). The tail pattern is typical of excubitor, there's nowhere near enough white at the base of T6. And although that's an impressive primary patch, on a typical pallidirostris it would be a lot larger still, more like 2/3rds the length of the inner primaries, not less than 1/2. Of course, 1st winter pallidirostris looks quite unlike any excubitor; for a start the head and bill is much paler and there's much more white on the greater coverts. So stand down, it's excubitor after all.

The East Devon Commons are a regular site for Great Grey Shrike and I expect this bird will settle in for the winter; expect many more, and better, photos of this bird - though probably not from me.

*Not associated with steppe on either breeding or wintering ranges; pallidirostris is a bird of semi-desert scrub, a much better name is 'Saxaul Grey Shrike', if only it would catch on.