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22

Great Grey Shrike

(Lanius excubitor)
Alternate name(s): "Northern Grey Shrike", "Northern Shrike"
German name(s): "Raubwürger"

Size: 24-25 cm; wing span 30-34 cm
Weight: 50-80 g

Similar
species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description

Click here for a physical description

Taxonomy, classification

See Great Grey Shrike at Wikipedia .

Click here for classification information

Range, habitat, finding this species

Click here for information on habitat and range

Sightings

Click here for sighting information

Photos

Race "excubitor"

ADULT

MALE

Near-lateral view of a male Great Grey Shrike (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Brok, river Bug, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Lateral view of a male Great Grey Shrike; note the absence of any signs of vermiculation, indicating that this bird is a male (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Brok, river Bug, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Race "koenigi"

ADULT

MALE

Lateral view of a male Great Grey Shrike; note the absence of any signs of vermiculation, indicating that this bird is a male (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[March 2017]

Lateral view of a male Great Grey Shrike (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[March 2017]

Behaviour

Just like other shrikes of the genus Lanius, Great Grey Shrikes are known to spike their prey on thorns for future consumption.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

grgshrk_dw_20160918.m4a excubitor
(Central Poland)
Territorial calls (male) © DW

More Great Grey Shrike sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.