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  • Red-backed shrike

Red-backed shrike

Red-backed shrike (male)
Red-backed shrike (male)
Red-backed shrike (female)
Red-backed shrike (female)
  • Scientific name: Lanius collurio
  • Bird family: Shrikes
  • UK conservation status: Red
  • Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Red backed shrike song audio

Your browser does not support this audio feature.

Volker Arnold, xeno-canto

Key information

Red-backed shrikes are slightly larger, but slimmer, than house sparrows. The male is unmistakable with a bluish-grey head, black mask, bright chestnut back and thick hooked black bill. Shrikes like to perch prominently on the tops of bushes, fence posts and telephone wires, where they have a good view of potential prey. Items caught are then taken to a larder where they are impaled on a thorn or wedged in a fork.

Its dramatic decline to virtual extinction as a UK breeding species make this a Red List bird. It is also listed as a Schedule 1 species under The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

What they eat:

Insects, and small birds and mammals

Measurements:

Length:
17cm
Wingspan:
24-27cm
Weight:
25-35g

Population:

UK breeding is the number of pairs breeding annually. UK wintering is the number of individuals present from October to March. UK passage is the number of individuals passing through on migration in spring and/or autumn.
UK breeding:
1-3 pairs
UK passage:
250 birds

Identifying features:

This bird species has different identifying features depending on sex/age/season.

Red-backed shrike (male)

Red backed shrike male
Feather colour: Black Blue Brown Cream/buff Grey Red White
Leg colour: Brown
Beak: Black Short Hooked Powerful Chunky
Natural habitats: Woodland Farmland Grassland Heathland Marine and intertidal

Red-backed shrike (female)

Female red backed shrike
Feather colour: Brown Cream/buff White
Leg colour: Brown
Beak: Black Brown Short Hooked Powerful Chunky
Natural habitats: Woodland Farmland Grassland Heathland Marine and intertidal

Where and when to see them

Red-backed shrikes are now effectively extinct as a breeding bird and best looked for on passage in spring and autumn. Most birds are seen on the south and east coasts of the UK as far north as northern Scotland.

* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  • Resident
  • Passage
  • Summer
  • Winter
Red-backed shrike distribution map

You can see red-backed shrikes in May and June, when they migrate north and from August to October when they move south.

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