Southern Shrike . A species of Shrike , it is located in Africa , Asia , and southern Europe . Formerly called the gray shrike (Lanius excubitor) and today converted into the southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis), when certain differences are detected with its northern European homonym, the northern shrike , it is a bird that due to its behavior, its hooked beak and its small claws Armed with powerful nails for their size, they look more like a small hawk than a fragile bird.
In fact, during the Middle Ages , it was used in the so-called Hall Falconry , where those present at the session released small birds and our protagonist hunted them on the fly.
Summary
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- 1 Description
- 2 Habitat
- 3 Food
- 4 Playback
- 5 Pantry
- 6 Song
- 7 Subspecies
- 8 Sources
Description
It is the largest shrike on the Iberian peninsula, about the size of a thrush . It measures about 25 centimeters and reaches a wingspan of about 35. The black band that crosses the eye is striking, as well as the other black band that covers its wings.
Its upper parts are dark slate gray, the scapular feathers with white tips and a narrow white stripe on top of a wide black one that crosses the eyes. The underparts are vinous pink with a violet tinge; the flanks are grayish pink and the chin and undertail feathers are white. The tail is long and very dark.
The pair of central rectrices is black and there is only a small portion of dirty white at the tip; the second pair has more white at the end (5-8 mm); the third with a white extension at the tip of 8-15 mm. up to the pair of outer rectrices, which can often be almost all white. This makes a characteristic and colorful drawing that is very visible when the bird unfolds its tail, but also with it closed.
The primary feathers of the wings are black with white bases, forming with them folded like a white band; the secondaries are also black and at the base there are small white spots and the very visible white tips.
Its beak, black in color, is strong and designed to tear some of the prey it captures. His throat is white and his belly is soft gray tones and a black mask. Its tail is quite long, black with white edges. Often perched on prominent locations such as posts, bushes, etc.
It imitates many sounds to attract its prey to which it inserts in thorny bushes such as hawthorns or pyrutanos. It is present all year round. Of agile and fast flight, it is able to face other birds of greater size and sometimes dangerous for it.
Lanius meridionalis is a good-sized bird that does not go easily unnoticed, especially due to its habit of perching in the open in prominent places such as the bare branches of a tree, a tall pole and especially the power lines. He often spends a lot of time on the top of a bush, a pine, and even over a fireplace. From there he scans the field at his feet, trying to distinguish a possible prey on the ground from the grass on which he jumps at any moment, displaying great aggressiveness and ferocity.
While perched it moves its tail up and down and its silhouette is typical with the large head slightly inclined towards the ground. It flies with power and does so by tracing a prolonged undulation in the air, displaying relatively short wings for its size and quite rounded. The white color that it then shows on the wings appears smaller than that of the Lesser Shrike Lanius minor.
The first primary is shorter than the next 3 and equal to the sixth. In Lanius minor, the first primary is almost equal to the second and equal to the third, the others being much shorter. This is what gives the latter species the vision of a more pointed wing and is an unmistakable feature when it comes to identification, even when the birds are seen separately in flight. It is not always seen making long flights and more often it does so over short distances from the ground to ascend almost vertically to the perch.
Habitat
The most characteristic habitat of this species is open spaces, where there is some vegetation cover, even scattered trees that usually serve as perches to scan the landscape in search of prey.
By May, the shrikes have already begun to build their nests in trees and also in thorny bushes. It is a herbaceous cup where there will be enough room for the five or six eggs that will be incubated for two weeks mainly by the female. After hatching the chicks will be fed for three more weeks in the nest.
Feeding
The [Shrike | shrike] feed mainly on rodents , small birds , insects and lizards . Once the prey has been hunted, it is usually left on a hawthorn tree to facilitate its tasting.
The diet is varied, but small birds are in a large proportion in the diet. Jourdain cites linnets, lúganos, finches, bullfinches, bunting, sparrows, chickadees, blue tit, robins, and occasionally blackbirds and thrushes. Glue ( 1968 ), who examined 30 pellets returned by this bird, obtained confirmation of the fragmentary nature of the food of the King Shrike that rarely, except in small insects, eats the whole of the prey.
The skeletal remains obtained by Glue confirm this. It could also be admitted that some of the small bones had been destroyed in the Shrike’s stomach. The species of birds, micromammals, reptiles and insects determined were: Greenfinch Carduelis chloris, Common Pipit Anthus pratensis, Wild mouse Microtus agrestis, Spike mouse Micromys minutus, Dwarf shrew Sorex minutus, Square-tailed shrew Sorex araneus, Red vole Clereolus glans lizards Lacerta sp. and some insects.
Bayer ( 1950 ) in 139 pellets analyzed collected between autumn and the end of January in southern Germany , obtained 37.6 percent of Microtus sp. which allowed him to affirm that these small mammals formed most of the diet of Lanius excubitor in winter . The variations, however, according to the occupied habitat and the latitude must be great. The hunting technique is normally waiting from a perch in which the bird enjoys a lot of vision. But it can also attack on the fly and chase small birds down. For this, it usually has a fondness for the proximity of roosts of birds that congregate at dusk or those that breed in colonies.
Reproduction
The breeding season begins around April or May . Male and female incubate their 5 or 6 eggs for 15 days, which they lay on average in each laying. After 19-20 days the chicks leave the nest which is usually located at a height of about 3-5 m, although it is not uncommon to find them in thick bushes less than 1 m from the ground and always very hidden inside the tree or chosen scrub. It is also known to make their nests almost always in the same tree , with which over the years these trees can host up to 5 or 6 old nests. These relatively large nests, similar to those of blackbird common (Turdus merula) are composed of small intertwined branches but without becoming too compact, and covered by plant material and feathers of other birds.
Nests in trees and shrubs often high up, but also surprisingly low. It is not uncommon to see a nest in fruit trees and conifers. In fact, in mountain areas, which is where it seems to retain a higher density within the general dispersion of pairs, it prefers old oaks and beech and birch trees. The nest is built by the two adults, but most of the material is provided by the male. First they make a base with dried stems of Heather Erica to which they add a good amount of moss.
The rest is a voluminous structure of dry grass lined inside with rootlets, wool, hair and feathers. The construction can be finished by the last days of April, but the eggs are not laid before the first decade of May normally. Others, until after May 15 , especially in mountain forests where the leaves do not sprout until very late.
Sets found in late March are occasional. The laying consists of 4-5 eggs, sometimes 6 and very rarely 8 or 9. These must be truly exceptional and there is no confirmation of them for Iberia. They are white, shiny and with a smooth skin. They are often tinged with a light straw or greenish tint and are always heavily spotted and mottled with reddish, yellowish-brown, purplish and gray spots. Sometimes these spots or freckles are distributed evenly over the entire surface, but other times, not a few, they accumulate at one end.
Rey and Bau give 117 eggs measured an average of 27.5 x 19.6 mm. with a maximum of 30.1 x 20.1 mm. and a minimum of 24 x 18.2 mm. (race meridionalis). D’Almeida for 9 eggs collected in Portugal (meridionalis race) obtained an average of 26.3 x 19.7 mm. with ends from 25.8 to 26.9 x 19.7 to 20.3 mm. Both adults can hatch, but the female does most of the work and even in some pairs it is she alone that remains in the nest throughout the day. At 14-15 days bare down chicks hatch with slightly pink skin that soon darkens.
The inside of the mouth is pink and the corners are yellow. Fed by both parents, they leave the nest at 19-20 days, but are not independent until a month has passed, usually at 35-37 days. Normally they make only one clutch, although two have been cited for the meridionalis breed, which is not unlikely. If the nest is predated, a replacement spawn occurs immediately.
Lanius excubitor meridionalis breeds on the Iberian Peninsula and southern France and appears largely sedentary, although dispersive movements in autumn and winter should not be ruled out. Birds have their winter territory and they come to it year after year, always verified in areas where it is not regularly seen in spring. The same innkeeper is busy from November or earlier, until January and February . The excubitor subspecies occupies the rest of Europe, except for the British Isles, Iceland, the Mediterranean islands, most of Italy, and the Balkans.
In Europe it is partially migrant and moves in all directions, some reaching the Iberian lands. Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and the rest of the Cantabrian area have a non-negligible constant wintering population of European shrikes of the easy-to-observe excubitor subspecies that possibly partially penetrate further south. However, there is a lack of reliable data from Castilla where its presence is assured. The ringings will one day expose flights only suspected now.
Ringed shrikes in Finland are caught in France and here also numerous of German origin. Bernis marks the arrival of excubitor Central European shrikes to Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The catches mentioned by Nadal (1965) in Mallorca are probably of this breed. In Guipúzcoa there are numerous well-identified captures and skins corresponding to the excubitor subspecies.
The shrikes move little, and this winter erratism or transhumance is evidenced by the ringing that gave recoveries at distances not exceeding 165 km. (From Tras os Montes to Minho, Portugal). Pechuán ringed one in Teruel that was captured in Castellón the following January, 32 km. to the south.
Pantry
Lizard in the pantry
These pantries originate from the custom that our protagonist has of holding the prey he captures in such a curious way, in order to be able to flesh them better, leaving there the excess food that he cannot ingest at those times as a reservoir. It is striking that, on occasions, some of the catches decompose without being used as food, as I was able to verify in the following days in the case of one of the lizards.
Royal or southern shrike
Due to its small size, its claws do not have enough strength to tear large prey, so it has the habit of “impaling” its catches in thorny bushes or trees, to tear them to pieces by pulling them afterwards. You can also use these enclaves as pantries, especially in winter and during the breeding season.
From his favorite vantage point, he will wait for the passage of any little animal, to hunt it down and in case of not being able to swallow it in one bite, take it to a hawthorn, metal fence or similar to tear it to pieces by sinking it between the spikes, and even leave it there as a pantry if your appetite at that time is satisfied.
The so-called pantries are used especially in winter , where the bird collects food and dispose of it when necessary.
However, during the breeding season it is not difficult to find some of these pantries, where usually we will only find pieces of their game, since the rest is being taken to the hungry chickens.
The fact of using thorny bushes or trees to impale its prey there is due to the fact that despite having its claws certainly developed, it is unable to grab its victim with them like a raptor as it lacks enough strength to tear its piece combining its powerful and hooked beak with its legs.
Usually they impale their prey by the head on a spike in the bush and once it has been driven hard, it pulls it to pieces, then swallowing the pieces.
Their special predilection for scorpions is known, their capture being quite a ritual. When it spots one of these poisonous long-tailed, poisonous-tipped arachnids, the first thing it does is dance around it while it waits for the right moment to disarm it with an accurate peck at the dangerous stinger. Once achieved, the story was over in one bite.
Singing
Its song is a dry trill, with pleasant tones that make it easily noticeable even at a great distance. Its musical chirp that includes varied trills and notes reminiscent of the similar ones of other small birds of the countryside. Although the song is emitted in a low tone, it can be heard at a considerable distance. The chirps are really melodious, but many shrikes also include hard, scraping notes. He sings throughout the year, he is even heard very often on sunny winter days. His best known voice is the alarm note, a harsh and dry chek, chek !! which is somewhat reminiscent of the sound of the Magpie and which also has a great propagation power. When the female perches near the male, they both emit a short trill, trii !! Niethammer mentions a loud cry uik-kuik !!
His hunting art reaches the point of imitating the song of certain birds to attract them to their position as a claim.
Subspecies
- Lanius meridionalis koenigi.
- Lanius meridionalis algeriensis.
- Lanius meridionalis elegans.
- Lanius meridionalis leucopygos.
- Lanius meridionalis aucheri.
- Lanius meridionalis buryi.
- Lanius meridionalis unicatus.
- Lanius meridionalis lathora.
- Lanius meridionalis pallidirostris.
