Bird Guide

Great Grey Shrike vs Southern Fiscal

Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor)

Great Grey Shrike

Lanius excubitor

Medium63 gShrubland

An adult great grey shrike is a medium-sized passerine about as large as a big thrush, measuring from 22 to 26 cm (8.7 to 10.2 in) long. It typically weighs around 60 to 70 g (2.1 to 2.5 oz), although some subspecies are noticeably smaller or larger, and even in the nominate subspecies adult weights between 48 and 81 g (1.7 and 2.9 oz) are recorded. The wings are around 11.4 cm (4.5 in) and the tail around 10.9 cm (4.3 in) long in the nominate subspecies, its bill measures about 23 mm (0.91 in) from tip to skull, and the tarsometatarsus part of its "legs" (actually feet) is around 27.4 mm (1. Voice: The male's song consists of short pleasant warbling strophes, interspersed with fluid whistles. The individual phrases may go like tu-tu-krr-pree-pree or trr-turit trr-turit.... To announce that it has become aware of someone straying into its territory – be it a female or male of its species or a large mammal – it gives long shrill raspy whistles like trrii(u) or (t')kwiiet.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Great Grey Shrike
Recorded by Christian Kahle · Schneverdingen, Germany · CC0
Photo: uid101125 · CC BY 4.0
Southern Fiscal (Lanius collaris)

Southern Fiscal

Lanius collaris

Small36 gGrassland

This is a fairly distinctive 21–23-cm long passerine with white underparts and black upperparts extending from the top of the head down to the tail. The bird has a characteristic white "V" on the back and a relatively long black tail with white outer feathers and white tips on the other feathers. The bill, eyes and legs are black. Adult male and female common fiscals are quite similar except for the rufous lower flank of the female. The calls are a jumbled mix of shrike-like swizzling sounds including some imitations and a harsh Dzzzttt-dzzzt-dzzzt alarm call.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Paul Hoekman, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Paul Hoekman · cc-by

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great Grey Shrike and Southern Fiscal.