Post by coherentsheaf on Mar 28, 2013 15:34:36 GMT 5
Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Amniota
Clade: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Clade: Passeri
Family: Lanidae
Genus: Lanius
Species:L.excubitor (Synonym: Lanius borealis)
Great Grey Shrike with mammalian prey. Source: Wikipedia
The Great Grey Shrike is a large predatory songbird of the shrike family. It finds its home in Europe, North America and Asia, where it migrates to the south during cold periods.
Description:
An adult Great Grey Shrike is a medium-sized passerine about as large as a big thrush, measuring from 22 to 26 cm (8.7 to 10 in) long. It typically weighs around 60 to 70 g (2.1 to 2.5 oz), although some subspecies are noticeably smaller or larger, and even in the nominate subspecies adult weights between 48 and 81 g (1.7 and 2.9 oz) are recorded. The wings are around 11.4 cm (4.5 in) and the tail around 10.9 cm (4.3 in) long in the nominate subspecies, its bill measures about 23 mm (0.9 in) from tip to skull, and the tarsometatarsus part of its "legs" (actually feet) is around 27.4 mm (1.08 in) long. Wingspan can range from 30 to 36 cm (12 to 14 in).
Adult male (top) and female L. e. excubitor with fledging young (bottom)
The general colour of the upperparts is pearl grey, tinged brownish towards the east of its Eurasian range. The cheeks and chin as well as a thin and often hard-to-see stripe above the eye are white, and a deep black mask extends from the beak through the eye to the ear coverts; the area immediately above the beak is grey. The scapulars (shoulder feathers) are white, and the wings are black with a white bar made up by the bases of the primary remiges, continuing slightly offset onto the bases of the secondary remiges in some regions. The tail is black, long, and pointed at the tip; the outer rectrices have white outer vanes. The underparts are white, slightly tinged with grey in most subspecies. In particular the breast is usually darker and sometimes browner than the rest of the light underside, and may appear as an indistinct band between the lighter belly and white throat. In the subspecies around the North Pacific in particular and in females elsewhere too, there may be faint brownish bars on the breast. The bill is large and hooked at the tip and coloured nearly black, but pale at the base of the under mandible (though the extent varies seasonally). The legs and feet are blackish.
From: Wikipedia on Grey Shrike
Prey:
The Great Grey Shrike is a predator of small vertebrates and large invertebrates. Vertebrate prey includes birds, toads, lizards, mustelids and shrews, but the lion's share made up of rodents. Prey items are often sored impaled on spikes.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Amniota
Clade: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Clade: Passeri
Family: Lanidae
Genus: Lanius
Species:L.excubitor (Synonym: Lanius borealis)
Great Grey Shrike with mammalian prey. Source: Wikipedia
The Great Grey Shrike is a large predatory songbird of the shrike family. It finds its home in Europe, North America and Asia, where it migrates to the south during cold periods.
Description:
An adult Great Grey Shrike is a medium-sized passerine about as large as a big thrush, measuring from 22 to 26 cm (8.7 to 10 in) long. It typically weighs around 60 to 70 g (2.1 to 2.5 oz), although some subspecies are noticeably smaller or larger, and even in the nominate subspecies adult weights between 48 and 81 g (1.7 and 2.9 oz) are recorded. The wings are around 11.4 cm (4.5 in) and the tail around 10.9 cm (4.3 in) long in the nominate subspecies, its bill measures about 23 mm (0.9 in) from tip to skull, and the tarsometatarsus part of its "legs" (actually feet) is around 27.4 mm (1.08 in) long. Wingspan can range from 30 to 36 cm (12 to 14 in).
Adult male (top) and female L. e. excubitor with fledging young (bottom)
The general colour of the upperparts is pearl grey, tinged brownish towards the east of its Eurasian range. The cheeks and chin as well as a thin and often hard-to-see stripe above the eye are white, and a deep black mask extends from the beak through the eye to the ear coverts; the area immediately above the beak is grey. The scapulars (shoulder feathers) are white, and the wings are black with a white bar made up by the bases of the primary remiges, continuing slightly offset onto the bases of the secondary remiges in some regions. The tail is black, long, and pointed at the tip; the outer rectrices have white outer vanes. The underparts are white, slightly tinged with grey in most subspecies. In particular the breast is usually darker and sometimes browner than the rest of the light underside, and may appear as an indistinct band between the lighter belly and white throat. In the subspecies around the North Pacific in particular and in females elsewhere too, there may be faint brownish bars on the breast. The bill is large and hooked at the tip and coloured nearly black, but pale at the base of the under mandible (though the extent varies seasonally). The legs and feet are blackish.
From: Wikipedia on Grey Shrike
Prey:
The Great Grey Shrike is a predator of small vertebrates and large invertebrates. Vertebrate prey includes birds, toads, lizards, mustelids and shrews, but the lion's share made up of rodents. Prey items are often sored impaled on spikes.
