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GrasslandCup nestSmall · 46 g
ID tip
The adult male lesser grey shrike has its nape, cheeks, ear and eye coverts and front part of the crown black. The hind part of the crown and the back is a pale bluish-grey and the rump is a similar but rather paler colour. The underparts are white with the lower breast and belly suffused with pink. The axillaries are greyish-white and the underwing coverts are brownish-black. The two central tail feathers are black with a white tip and base. The other pairs have increasing areas of white and less black. The primaries are black with a buff tip and white base.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Lesser Grey Shrike
One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 11 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Lesser Grey Shrike
The map shades 76 countries with regular records, and 12 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Finland, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, India, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Libya, Burundi, Eritrea.
About the Lesser Grey Shrike
The lesser grey shrike is a passerine bird in the shrike family Laniidae. It breeds in South and Central Europe and western Asia and migrates to winter quarters in southern Africa in the early autumn, returning in spring. It is a scarce vagrant to western Europe, including Great Britain, usually as a spring or autumn erratic.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Bay-backed ShrikeLanius vittatusIt is smallish shrike at 17 cm, maroon-brown above with a pale rump and long black tail with white edges.
Bull-headed ShrikeLanius bucephalusThe bull-headed shrike is a passerine bird of eastern Asia belonging to the shrike family Laniidae.
Isabelline ShrikeLanius isabellinusThe plumage is isabelline, the sandy colour which gives rise to its name.
Side by side: Iberian Grey Shrike vs Lesser Grey Shrike · Isabelline Shrike vs Lesser Grey Shrike
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