Some more photos from Lanzarote. Walking along the seafront path in Puerto del Carmen I could here a loud and unfamiliar call coming from a bush. I had a look around the bush and there, less than 50cm from the ground and a couple of metres in front of me was a southern grey shrike.
I’ve always wanted to see a shrike and due to the fact they are now pretty much extinct in the UK, I have only briefly seen one while in Kefalonia, Greece last year. To see one this close was a real treat.
I took a few pics, all using my Pentax 300mm.
Sadly the light was harsh and from the wrong direction, as well as the bird being tucked partly in the shade of the bush. I managed a few ok shots though.
On the way back I also spotted this atlantic lizard juvenile which, with the shrike around, was understandably flighty and disappeared after I took this shot.
Hi – grey shrike species have been going through a bit of change with regards boundaries recently and the subspecies koenigi from the canary islands is now considered to be the same as those on mainland north africa is probably best regarded as Lanius elegans, Desert Grey Shrike. The difference from Southern (Iberian) Grey Shrike is the grey rather than pink belly and the lack of supercillium. Hope this helps.
Thanks James. i did have a look at the exact definition of the southern grey shrike and what species was found on the Canaries but it is all rather confusing, like many of these species/subspecies definitions. In the end I just copied what everyone else was calling them in their bird reports. Thanks for clearing it up!