Description:

Rather small, compact but long-tailed shrike. Has a pale sandy-brown mantle, contrasting with rufous rump and tail. Supercilium is buffish and mask is incomplete in front of eye. Female has paler ear-coverts than male, and usually has faint dark scaling on breast and flanks.

Distribution:

Common passage migrant through central and western parts of Gilgit-Baltistan, rare in Baltistan. In mountains patches of scrub in dry steppe, up to 2500m. In non-breeding on edges of cultivation, in semi-desert and open grassland near water.

Behavior:

Uses sit-and-wait foraging technique, utilizing a variety of lookouts, including wires, fence lines and tree branches. Almost exclusively insectivorous. Prefers mostly beetles, crickets and grasshoppers, with other invertebrates taken less often; also some small vertebrates taken.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Isabelline Shrike in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Isabelline Shrike

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.