A complete miss

Original picture of the Isabelline Shrike.

This weekend I was tidying my messy basement. Searching through old stored boxes with who knows what inside is rather exciting. However, I do realise I am getting old when looking at slides and prints dating 25 years back. Anyway, in between everything I stumbled across a box that originally contained a bird-feeder. Why store such crap? Well, the cover featured one of my pictures. The picture was stolen from my website and used without permission. It was and is not uncommon that people, organizations and newspapers use my pictures without permission. A bad thing of course, and my intention was to bill the offender hard. I did not do it at once, and everything was forgotten - until yesterday.

Isabelline Shrike - now promoting bird feeders!

A remarkable thing was the species of bird picked out to sell this feeder. You would expect a Great Tit or maybe a Nuthach, but no. An Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus decorated the box. Isabelline Shrike on the cover of a bird-feeder? I do not think it is possible to find a species that is more obscure to a Norwegian person who feed birds in a garden. The designer of the cover probably found the picture nice and suitable. To my knowledge the Isabelline Shrike is not a regular visitor to bird feeders anywhere. So what am I supposed to do with this pretty strange incidence? I will probably find an address and send a bill... A tip for the bold designer; choose a species that people are used to see on feeders, but first and foremost - pay the cost!

The depicted Isabelline Shrike was photographed (digiscoped) in November 2003, about 50 kilometers northwest of Bergen in western Norway. It was the second county record, and only about the 10th. for Norway. It was seen during an afternoon, but disappeared after having caught and killed a Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes.