Vibrant Spring
Red-backed Shrike male Spring_w_1142
We had the coldest April on record, which held up a lot of the spring migrants, including our local Red-backed Shrikes or Neuntöter as they are called in German. I'm pleased that both male & female from last year arrived safely back from southern Africa at the weekend.
I managed a few snaps of them on the edge of the forest, close to where we live. This is the adult male, his colourful breeding plumage showing up well against the vibrant Spring foliage.
Red-backed Shrike male_w_7399
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 Red-backed Shrike bird (Lanius collurio) is a member of the shrike family Laniidae. The general colour of the males upper parts is reddish. It has a grey head and a typical shrike black stripe through the eye. Underparts are tinged pink and the tail has a black and white pattern similar to that of a wheatear. In the female and young Red-backed Shrikes, the upperparts are brown and vermiculated (wavy lines or markings). Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
This 16 – 18 centimetres long migratory passerine eats large insects, small birds, voles and lizards. Like other shrikes the Red-backed Shrike hunts from prominent perches and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a ‘larder’.
The Red-backed Shrike breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa.
The Red-backed Shrikes range is decreasing and it is now probably extinct in Great Britain as a breeding bird, although it is frequent on migration.
The Red-backed Shrike is named as a protected bird in Britain under a Biodiversity Action Plan. The Red-backed Shrikes’ decline is due to overuse of pesticides and scrub clearance due to human overpopulation.
The Red-backed Shrike breeds in open cultivated country with hawthorn and dog rose.
Vibrant Spring
Red-backed Shrike male Spring_w_1142
We had the coldest April on record, which held up a lot of the spring migrants, including our local Red-backed Shrikes or Neuntöter as they are called in German. I'm pleased that both male & female from last year arrived safely back from southern Africa at the weekend.
I managed a few snaps of them on the edge of the forest, close to where we live. This is the adult male, his colourful breeding plumage showing up well against the vibrant Spring foliage.
Red-backed Shrike male_w_7399
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 Red-backed Shrike bird (Lanius collurio) is a member of the shrike family Laniidae. The general colour of the males upper parts is reddish. It has a grey head and a typical shrike black stripe through the eye. Underparts are tinged pink and the tail has a black and white pattern similar to that of a wheatear. In the female and young Red-backed Shrikes, the upperparts are brown and vermiculated (wavy lines or markings). Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
This 16 – 18 centimetres long migratory passerine eats large insects, small birds, voles and lizards. Like other shrikes the Red-backed Shrike hunts from prominent perches and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a ‘larder’.
The Red-backed Shrike breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa.
The Red-backed Shrikes range is decreasing and it is now probably extinct in Great Britain as a breeding bird, although it is frequent on migration.
The Red-backed Shrike is named as a protected bird in Britain under a Biodiversity Action Plan. The Red-backed Shrikes’ decline is due to overuse of pesticides and scrub clearance due to human overpopulation.
The Red-backed Shrike breeds in open cultivated country with hawthorn and dog rose.