Lesser Grey Shrike and Red-backed Shrike
The Lesser Grey Shrike is a member of the shrike family. It is around 7.9 inches in length with a wing span of 5.1 inches. It is similar in appearance to the Great Grey Shrike and the Iberian Grey Shrike being predominantly black, white and grey, with the males having pink-flushed underparts. However, it is slightly smaller and has a black forehead and relatively longer wings
The adult male has a black nape, cheeks, ear and eye coverts and front part of the crown. The hind part of the crown and the back is a pale bluish-grey and the rump is a similar but rather paler colour. The underparts are white with the lower breast and belly suffused with pink. The axillaries are greyish-white and the underwing coverts are brownish-black. The 2 central tail feathers are black with a white tip and base and the other pairs have increasing areas of white and less black. The primaries are black with a buff tip and white base. The secondaries are black with broader, paler tips but no white bases. The wing coverts are black with the lesser coverts being fringed with grey. The female has similar plumage but the head is dark grey rather than black, the ear coverts brownish-black, the upperparts a brownish-grey and the underparts less pink than the male. The juvenile is similar to the adults but is generally more brown. It lacks the grey back and rump which are instead pale brown and faintly barred and the underparts are white and cream without any pink. All birds have a brownish-black beak with a paler base to the lower mandible, brown irises and black legs and feet.
The flight of the Lesser Grey Shrike is low and somewhat undulating and it occasionally glides with extended wings. At the end of the flight it swoops upward to land on a new hunting perch. It then turns its head from side to side searching for prey. When on the ground it hops but it normally only stays there for long enough to pick up an item of food. Like other shrikes, when excited it fans its tail and moves it up and down or from side to side.
The Lesser Grey Shrike summers in south and central Europe and west Asia where it can be found in open countryside, the edges of cultivated areas, heathland with scattered bushes and trees, gardens, coppices, woodland and roadside trees. It breeds in south France, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and south Russia. In Asia it breeds in the Middle East, its range extending as far as east Turkey and Iran. The nest is often built in a roadside tree with good all-round visibility. It is built by both birds out of the stems of various flowering plants and lined with wool, hairs, roots and feathers. The female lays 5 to 7 eggs and incubation, which is undertaken mainly by the female, lasts about 15 days. Both the male and the female feed the young which are ready to leave the nest after about 14 days. There is usually a single brood.
The Lesser Grey Shrike is a migratory species and it winters in a broad belt across tropical south Africa where it can be found in scrubland and among thorn trees. It is also a vagrant to more northerly parts of Europe including the UK and it is usually recorded in spring or autumn.
The Lesser Grey Shrike hunts from a strategic post, wire or branch and primarily feeds on insects which it catches in the air or on the ground. The diet includes beetles, moths and butterflies, large flies, grasshoppers, crickets and millipedes. Some fruits such as cherries and figs are eaten to a limited extent. The Lesser Grey Shrike occasionally impales freshly caught prey on thorns for use later but this is done to a much lesser extent than by some other shrike species.
The Red-backed Shrike is a carnivorous passerine bird and member of the shrike family. 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 and the underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
The Red-backed Shrike 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 Red-backed Shrike breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa. Once a common migratory visitor to the UK, 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, and 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. This return to south west 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.
Date: 23rd May 2018
Location: Topolovgrad to Svilengrad, Haskovo Province, Bulgaria
The adult male has a black nape, cheeks, ear and eye coverts and front part of the crown. The hind part of the crown and the back is a pale bluish-grey and the rump is a similar but rather paler colour. The underparts are white with the lower breast and belly suffused with pink. The axillaries are greyish-white and the underwing coverts are brownish-black. The 2 central tail feathers are black with a white tip and base and the other pairs have increasing areas of white and less black. The primaries are black with a buff tip and white base. The secondaries are black with broader, paler tips but no white bases. The wing coverts are black with the lesser coverts being fringed with grey. The female has similar plumage but the head is dark grey rather than black, the ear coverts brownish-black, the upperparts a brownish-grey and the underparts less pink than the male. The juvenile is similar to the adults but is generally more brown. It lacks the grey back and rump which are instead pale brown and faintly barred and the underparts are white and cream without any pink. All birds have a brownish-black beak with a paler base to the lower mandible, brown irises and black legs and feet.
The flight of the Lesser Grey Shrike is low and somewhat undulating and it occasionally glides with extended wings. At the end of the flight it swoops upward to land on a new hunting perch. It then turns its head from side to side searching for prey. When on the ground it hops but it normally only stays there for long enough to pick up an item of food. Like other shrikes, when excited it fans its tail and moves it up and down or from side to side.
The Lesser Grey Shrike summers in south and central Europe and west Asia where it can be found in open countryside, the edges of cultivated areas, heathland with scattered bushes and trees, gardens, coppices, woodland and roadside trees. It breeds in south France, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and south Russia. In Asia it breeds in the Middle East, its range extending as far as east Turkey and Iran. The nest is often built in a roadside tree with good all-round visibility. It is built by both birds out of the stems of various flowering plants and lined with wool, hairs, roots and feathers. The female lays 5 to 7 eggs and incubation, which is undertaken mainly by the female, lasts about 15 days. Both the male and the female feed the young which are ready to leave the nest after about 14 days. There is usually a single brood.
The Lesser Grey Shrike is a migratory species and it winters in a broad belt across tropical south Africa where it can be found in scrubland and among thorn trees. It is also a vagrant to more northerly parts of Europe including the UK and it is usually recorded in spring or autumn.
The Lesser Grey Shrike hunts from a strategic post, wire or branch and primarily feeds on insects which it catches in the air or on the ground. The diet includes beetles, moths and butterflies, large flies, grasshoppers, crickets and millipedes. Some fruits such as cherries and figs are eaten to a limited extent. The Lesser Grey Shrike occasionally impales freshly caught prey on thorns for use later but this is done to a much lesser extent than by some other shrike species.
The Red-backed Shrike is a carnivorous passerine bird and member of the shrike family. 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 and the underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
The Red-backed Shrike 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 Red-backed Shrike breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa. Once a common migratory visitor to the UK, 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, and 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. This return to south west 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.
Date: 23rd May 2018
Location: Topolovgrad to Svilengrad, Haskovo Province, Bulgaria
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Also in: Bulgaria
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