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Red-backed shrike in juniper top

 

On Wednesday a message arrived by Rariliin that a lesser grey shrike  (Lanius minor) was present in the Valguta polder. I went twitching at once but the bird had disappeared. It was very windy and obviously it had gone somewhere into the bushes for shelter. We moved around in the area for several hours in the evening but the shrike remained unseen. On Thursday morning we looked the area over thoroughly once more but only red-backed shrikes  (Lanius collurio) were to be seen. Unfortunately the rarity shrikes won’t stay stationary for particularly long. During the last few years I have tried to twitch the woodchat shrike  (Lanius senator) three times and the lesser grey shrike once, but the score at the moment is 4:0, to the shrikes.

Because I have been seen/heard all common bird species already this year new species are slow to come now, On Thursday I finally got the turtle dove   (Streptopelia turtur)  into my year list, it is the 254th bird species in my 2012 species list.