The Red-backed Shrike bird (Lanius collurio) is a member of the shrike family Laniidae. The general color of the males 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 Red-backed Shrikes، the upperparts are brown and vermiculated (wavy lines or markings ). Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
This 16 – 18 centimetres long migratory passerine eats large insects، small birds، voles and lizards. Like other shrikes the Red-backed Shrike hunts from prominent perches and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a ‘larder’.
The Red-backed Shrike breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa.
The Red-backed Shrikes range is decreasing and it is now probably extinct in Great Britain as a breeding bird، although it is frequent on migration.
The Red-backed Shrike is named as a protected bird in Britain under a Biodiversity Action Plan. The Red-backed Shrikes’ decline is due to overuse of pesticides and scrub clearance due to human overpopulation.
The Red-backed Shrike breeds in open cultivated country with hawthorn and dog rose.
More Fascinating Animals to Learn About
Red Rock Crabs
Red Kite
Galapagos Red Bat
Red British Squirrel
Galapagos Red Billed Tropic Bird
Red Wolf
العربية
