Isabelline shrike

The isabelline shrike or Daurian shrike (Lanius isabellinus) is a member of the shrike family (Laniidae). It was previously considered conspecific with the red-backed shrike and red-tailed shrike. It is found in an extensive area between the Caspian Sea and north and central China southeast to the Qaidam Basin. Overwinters in Africa and Arabia.

Isabelline shrike
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Laniidae
Genus: Lanius
Species:
L. isabellinus
Binomial name
Lanius isabellinus

Etymology

The genus name, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The common name is from the specific isabellinus, New Latin for "greyish-yellow" probably named for Isabella I of Castile, said to have promised not to change her undergarments until Spain was freed from the Moors.[2] The common English name "shrike" is from Old English scríc, "shriek", referring to the shrill call.[3]

wintering in Great Rann of Kutch
Lanius isabellinus - MHNT

Habits

This migratory medium-sized passerine eats large insects, small birds, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a larder. It breeds in open cultivated country, preferably with thorn bushes.

Description

The plumage is isabelline, the sandy colour which gives rise to its name. It has a red tail. Young birds can be distinguished from young red-backed shrikes by the much sparser vermiculations on the underparts.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Lanius isabellinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 207, 219. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. "Shrike". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

Further reading

Identification
  • Worfolk, Tim (2000) Identification of red-backed, isabelline and brown shrikes Dutch Birding 22 (6): 323-362
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