Bird watching/ birding in Japan - Bull-headed Shrike

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker/ コゲラ or Pygmy Woodpecker, Yungipicus kizuki, コゲラ

The Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus) is a passerine bird of eastern Asia belonging to the shrike family Laniidae.

It is 19–20 cm long. The male has a brown crown, white eyebrow and black mask. The back is grey-brown while the wings are dark with a white patch. The flanks are rufous and the rest of the underparts are whitish with fine barring.

Females are similar but duller and browner with a brown mask and no white wing-patch. The species has harsh grating and chattering calls and will also mimic other birds.

It breeds in north-east China, Korea, Japan and far-eastern Russia (Ussuriland, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands). Northern birds migrate south for the winter with a few reaching southern China.

Vagrants have been recorded in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam. The isolated race sicarius is found only in the mountains of Gansu Province in west-central China.

Open habitats such as farmland and woodland edges are preferred. It also visits parks and gardens in urban areas. It sits on a prominent perch, waiting for prey to pass by. It feeds mainly on insects such as beetles and crickets but also preys on lizards and crustaceans.

With some other species from the Lanius genus, like the great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor), the bull-headed shrike is known to impale some of its preys upon a sharp point – usually thorns – so the food can be ripped into bite-sized pieces more easily. It may also do this to cache food and to mark a territory boundary.

The nest is built among bushes or bamboo. Two to six eggs are laid. They are incubated for 14 to 15 days and the young birds fledge 14 days after hatching.

Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net

www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there

Length:

20 cm

Wingspan:

cm

Weight:

34 - 54,4 g

Longevity:

-

Distinctive Feature

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Similar Species

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From opus at www.birdforum.net the forum for wild birds and birding.

Listen to the Bull-headed Shrike

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Conservation status

Least Concern IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia