Red-tailed shrike

The red-tailed shrike or Turkestan shrike^[2] (Lanius phoenicuroides) is a member of the shrike family (Laniidae). It was formerly considered conspecific with the isabelline shrike and the red-backed shrike.

Red-tailed shrike
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Laniidae
Genus:	Lanius
Species:	L. phoenicuroides
Binomial name
Lanius phoenicuroides (Schalow, 1875)
Breeding range of Lanius (isabellinus) phoenicuroides   Breeding range of Lanius isabellinus   Overwintering range

Description

The plumage is a sandy colour. It has a red tail.^[3]

Range

The red-tailed shrike breeds in south Siberia and Central Asia.

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.

Gallery

• 
  At the Zambezi river, Mozambique
• 
  Eggs MHNT
• 
  Cuculus canorus in a clutch of Lanius phoenicuroides - MHNT