Isabelline Shrike

Sunday 29 9 19

A lot better weather wise on Sunday so we headed down to Quendale but turned off at Levenwick when word came in that the Isabelline Shrike had reappeared.

Can you make it out in the confer

We passed yesterday but it was raining heavy, so no good for photography.

Now on the fence

It had moved west since yesterday and was now just south of the shop in a garden. It showed straight away but was very distant. It stayed in one position for at least 10 mins before flying off and landing in the grass

It flew back to the fence staying in one position again for around 10 mins. It then took off and flew away from us.

About 10 birders had gathered by the time it flew further towards us resting low on the fence. Again it flew off to collect an insect and then returned to the same place

After a good 25 mins it flew into the garden and that was the last I saw of it. It did reappear again later to a small group but again distant.

This shrike has now two races, this was a `Turkestan' bird which has a whiter underside and a white strip above the eye and blacker mask. The other race is  `Daurian'.

This is a rare vagrant from Asia mostly seen October- November along the coast, this one a few days early