Great Grey Shrike
Also known as Lanius excubitor, mattagesse, mattagese, mattagess, mattages, killer magpie, murdering pie, greater butcher-bird
species of bird
AI overview
The Great Grey Shrike is a medium-sized predatory bird found across the Northern Hemisphere that hunts small animals like rodents and insects. It's notable for its distinctive behavior of impaling prey on thorns or sharp objects, which helps it store food and tear apart meals with its hooked beak.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Species
Least Concernvia IUCN
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Lanius excubitor elegans MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.232.1.jpg
Article
The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae). It forms a superspecies with its parapatric southern relatives, the Iberian grey shrike (L. meridionalis), the Chinese grey shrike (L. sphenocerus) and the American loggerhead shrike (L. ludovicianus). Males and females are similar in plumage, pearly grey above with a black eye-mask and white underparts.
Breeding takes place generally north of 50° northern latitude in northern Europe and Asia. Most populations migrate south in winter to temperate regions. The great grey shrike is carnivorous, with rodents making up over half its diet.