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The Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus relocation

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© Ricard Gutiérrez, 14.2.2015 And it was relocated. And hundreds of observers came to see it. And they all watched it... Not a religious reference, but true. The Brown Shrike ( Lanius cristatus) , the first for Catalonia and Spain, and the longest-distance known record from its usual breeding grounds, had been found on 31.12.2014 then on 6.1.2015 by Iain Hartley ( see this blog entry on the finding ). Many observers, even coming from Teruel, Girona or Barcelona, came in the immediate days after the 6th of January to attempt relocating the bird. Without luck. Despite the fuzzy photos of the original sighting, the description from Iain was good, particularly pointing out the key features of the bird, e.g. its tail structure, with the pointed shape due to the length of the central feathers. In order to accept the record into the official national list, it is widely agreed that having at least a couple of observers, or having supporting evidence, helps to get the record homologa