New record of the Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach Linnaeus, 1758 in South Khorasan Province, Iran

The Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach was recorded as a rare bird in Iran (Scott et al, 1975; Scott& Adhami, 2006; Mansoori, 2008; Khaleghizadeh et al, 2011). There were previously six records of this species in the 1890s near Emam-Qoli in the Kopet Dagh Mountains in northern Khorasan (Roselaar& Aliabadian, 2009). It had been thought that the Long-tailed Shrike was possibly breeding in northeastern Iran in the 1890s (Zarudny, 1911) but later assumed to be extinct in Iran because of no record since that (Scott, 2008). This species was also recently observed by Ali Khani near Mashhad on 10 August 2013 (Khani et al, 2016); and by Seyed Mehdi Mirsayyar in Fariman dam on 2013(Unpublished report). During field trip observations on 27 July 2015 around Bideskan village (34°3′31.08″ N, 58°25′43.41″ E; 1975 m a.s.l.) in Ferdows township in South Khorasan province, I saw three specimens of the Long-tailed Shrike, a male and a female with one juvenile (Figs. 1-4). Following this interesting record, the area was surveyed again on 3 and 5 August 2015 and these three shrikes were observed again.