Some shrikes from the Altai mountains

The Altai mountains is a very interesting place to watch shrikes because several closely related taxa breed close to each other. Some photos below.

 

(1.) Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio. This species was quite common in lowlands, in Altaiski Krai and in the northern part of the Altai republic. This bird was photographed on 15 June 2010 close to the shore of Lake Teletskoye. The area is mostly coniferous forest, but there are some open areas also.

(2). Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus. We did not see many of this species. This individual was close to Aktash on 18 June 2010, at about 1400m asl. There were some open meadows, rocky hillsides and much coniferous forest around.

(3.) The same bird.

(4.) This bird mostly resembles a (nominate) Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus isabellinus. However, the head is slightly greyish and it may therefore have some Red-backed Shrike genes. Photographed close to Kosh-Agatch, on the banks of Chuya river, 21 June 2010. Steppe or semidesert around, 1750m asl.

 

(5.) The same or a similar bird from the same place (there were several shrikes around).

(6.) Again the same or a similar bird from the same place.

(7.) Again the same or a similar bird from the same place

(8.) The same place again, but a different bird. This seems clearly to be a hybrid between Isabelline and Red-backed Shrike.

(9.) The same hybrid.

(10.) Again the same hybrid.

(11.) A problematic bird. In this photo it resembles Brown Shrike quite a lot. The back is brownish and there are some bars on the flanks, both good for cristatus. However, in some other views the back was not so brownish and the outermost rectrices seemed not to be distinctly shorter than the rest, as in Brown Shrike. We never saw whether this bird had a primary patch or not, despite trying. Photographed at Artibash, on the shore of lake Teletskoye, 440m asl.16 June 2010.

(12.) The same bird.

(13.) The same bird.