Red-backed Shrike
| Red-backed Shrike | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| A pair | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Laniidae |
| Genus: | Lanius |
| Species: | L. collurio |
| Binomial name | |
| Lanius collurio Linnaeus, 1758 |
|
The Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) is a carnivorous passerine bird and member of the shrike family Laniidae.
Contents |
[edit] Description
This 16–18 cm (approx. 6.3–7.1 inches) long migratory bird eats large insects, small birds, frogs, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a "larder". This practice has earned it the nickname of "butcher bird."
The general colour of the male’s upper parts is reddish. It has a grey head and a typical shrike black stripe through the eye. Underparts are tinged pink, and the tail has a black and white pattern similar to that of a wheatear. In the female and young birds the upperparts are brown and vermiculated. Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
[edit] Range
This bird breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa. Once a common migratory visitor to Great Britain, numbers declined sharply during the 20th century. The bird's last stronghold was in Breckland but by 1988 just a single pair remained, successfully raising young at Santon Downham. The following year for the first time no nests were recorded in the UK. But since then sporadic breeding has taken place, mostly in Scotland and Wales. In September 2010 the RSPB announced that a pair had raised chicks at a secret location on Dartmoor where the bird last bred in 1970.[2] In 2011, two pairs nested in the same locality, fledging seven young. [3] This return to south western England has been an unexpected development and has raised speculation that a warming climate could assist the bird in re-colonising some of its traditional sites, if only in small numbers. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Lanius collurio. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ^ "“Butcher bird” nests in England after 18 year absence". RSPB. http://www.rspb.org.uk/media/releases/259862-butcher-bird-nests-in-england-after-18-year-absence. Retrieved on 10 September 2010
- ^ "Red-backed Shrike breeds on Dartmoor". Birdwatch magazine. http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__11168. Retrieved 30 December 2011
- ^ "Mark Avery's blog: Shrikes.". RSPB. http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/markavery/archive/2010/09/10/shrikes.aspx. Retrieved on 30 December 2011
[edit] Further reading
- Worfolk, Tim (2000) Identification of red-backed, isabelline and brown shrikes Dutch Birding 22 (6): 323-362
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lanius collurio |
 |
Wikispecies has information related to: Lanius collurio |
- Oiseaux pictures
- Avibase
- The Internet Bird Collection videos
- Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta
