Brown Shrike
Lanius cristatus
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
32 g
About This Species
Look for a compact, masked bird perched conspicuously on a low shrub, fence wire or bare branch, from which it drops to the ground to snatch insects and small prey, sometimes impaling surplus food on thorns to cache for later. It favours open scrub, hedgerows and woodland edges, and its harsh, scolding calls often reveal its presence before it is seen. As a migrant across much of its range, it is most reliably found on breeding and wintering grounds during the appropriate season rather than during transit.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep a respectful distance, particularly near any larder of impaled prey or a nest site, since shrikes can abandon caches or nests if disturbed too often.
- Protections for wild birds vary across the many countries spanning its Asian breeding range and its wintering grounds further south, so treat any specific rule as local rather than universal.
- Absent a known local regulation, the cautious approach is simply to observe from far enough away that its normal hunting and perching behaviour continues uninterrupted.
LCAvesPasseriformesLaniidae
Seasonal Activity
503,553 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Laniidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 32 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.