Shrike

{{Short description|Family of birds}} {{Other uses}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Shrikes | image = Red-backed shrike.jpg | image_caption = Red-backed shrike (''Lanius collurio'') | taxon = Laniidae | authority = Rafinesque, 1815 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = * ''Lanius'' * ''Eurocephalus'' }}

'''Shrikes''' ({{IPAc-en|ʃ|r|aɪ|k}}) are passerine birds of the family '''Laniidae'''. The family is composed of 34 species in two genera.

The family name, and that of the larger genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as '''butcherbirds''' because of the habit, particularly of males, of impaling prey onto plant spines within their territories. These larders have multiple functions, attracting females and serving as food stores.<ref name=job>{{cite book |last=Jobling |first=James A |year=2010 |title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |url=https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl_997 |url-access=limited |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London |isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl_997/page/n219 219]}}</ref>

The common English name shrike is from Old English {{lang|ang|scrīc}}, alluding to the shrike's shriek-like call.<ref name=OED>{{Cite OED |Shrike}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== The family Laniidae was introduced (as the subfamily Lanidia) in 1815 by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The type genus ''Lanius'' had been introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Rafinesque | first=Constantine Samuel | author-link=Constantine Samuel Rafinesque | year=1815 | title=Analyse de la nature ou, Tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés | publisher=Self-published | location=Palermo | language=French | page=67 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48310145 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | location=New York | pages=150, 252 | hdl=2246/830 | url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/830 }}</ref> As currently constituted, the family contains 34 species in four genera. It includes the genus ''Eurocephalus'' with the two white-crowned shrikes.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2023 | title=Shrikes, vireos, shrike-babblers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/shrikes/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=23 July 2023 }}</ref> A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2023 found that the white-crowned shrikes were more closely related to the crows in the family Corvidae than they are to the Laniidae and authors proposed that the genus ''Eurocephalus'' should be moved to its own family Eurocephalidae. The cladogram below is based on these results:<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=McCullough | first1=J.M. | last2=Hruska | first2=J.P. | last3=Oliveros | first3=C.H. | last4=Moyle | first4=R.G. | last5=Andersen | first5=M.J. | date=2023 | title=Ultraconserved elements support the elevation of a new avian family, Eurocephalidae, the white-crowned shrikes | journal=Ornithology | volume=140 | issue=3 | article-number=ukad025 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukad025 | doi-access=free }}</ref> {{clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:100% |1={{clade |1={{clade |label1=Platylophidae |1=''Platylophus'' – crested jayshrike |label2=Laniidae |2=''Lanius'' – shrikes and fiscals (32 species) }} |2={{clade |label1=(Eurocephalidae) |1=''Eurocephalus'' – white-crowned shrikes (2 species) |label2=Corvidae |2=24 genera (135 species) }} }} }}

==Distribution, migration, and habitat== Most shrike species have a Eurasian and African distribution, with just two breeding in North America (the loggerhead and northern shrikes). No members of this family occur in South America or Australia, although one species reaches New Guinea. The shrikes vary in the extent of their ranges: some species, such as the great grey shrike, ranging across the Northern Hemisphere, while the São Tomé fiscal (or Newton's fiscal) is restricted to the island of São Tomé.<ref name = "HBW">{{Cite book | first = Reuven | last = Yosef | editor-first = Josep | editor-last = del Hoyo | editor2-first= Andrew | editor2-last = Elliott | editor3-first = David | editor3-last = Christie | contribution = Family Laniidae (Shrikes) | title = Handbook of the Birds of the World |volume=13, Penduline-tits to Shrikes | year = 2008 | pages = 732–773 | place = Barcelona | publisher = Lynx Edicions | isbn = 978-84-96553-45-3 }}</ref>

They inhabit open habitats, especially steppe and savannah. A few species of shrikes are forest dwellers, seldom occurring in open habitats. Some species breed in northern latitudes during the summer, then migrate to warmer climes for the winter.

==Description== Shrikes are medium-sized birds with grey, brown, or black-and-white plumage. Most species are between {{convert|16|and|25|cm|in|abbr=on}} in size; however, the genus ''Corvinella'', with its extremely elongated tail-feathers, may reach up to {{convert|50|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length. Their beaks are hooked, like those of a bird of prey, reflecting their carnivorous nature; their calls are strident.

==Behaviour== thumb|A lizard impaled on a thorn by a shrike for later consumption. Male shrikes are known for their habit of catching insects and small vertebrates and impaling them on thorns, branches, the spikes on barbed-wire fences, or any available sharp point. These stores serve as a cache so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time.<ref name=EoB>{{cite book |editor=Forshaw, Joseph|author= Clancey, P.A.|year=1991|title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds|publisher= Merehurst Press|location=London|page= 180|isbn= 1-85391-186-0}}</ref> The primary function of conspicuously impaling prey on thorny vegetation is however thought to be for males to display their fitness and the quality of the territory held to prospective mates.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Golawski |first1=A. |last2=Mroz |first2=E. |last3=Golawska |first3=S. |date=2020 |title=The function of food storing in shrikes: the importance of larders for the condition of females and during inclement weather |journal=The European Zoological Journal |language=en |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=282–293 |doi=10.1080/24750263.2020.1769208 |issn=2475-0263|doi-access=free }}</ref> The impaling behaviour increases during the onset of the breeding season.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yosef |first1=Reuven |last2=Pinshow |first2=Berry |date=1989 |title=Cache Size in Shrikes Influences Female Mate Choice and Reproductive Success |journal=The Auk |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=418–421 |jstor=4087861 |issn=0004-8038}}</ref> Female shrikes have been known to impale prey, but primarily to assist in dismembering prey.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ash, J.S. |year=1970 |title=Observations on a decreasing population of Red-backed Shrikes |url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V63/V63_N05/V63_N05_P185_205_A031.pdf |journal=British Birds |volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=185=2–5 |access-date=2023-06-10 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629225328/https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V63/V63_N05/V63_N05_P185_205_A031.pdf }}</ref> This behaviour may also serve secondarily as an adaptation to eating the toxic lubber grasshopper, ''Romalea microptera''. The bird waits 1–2 days for the toxins within the grasshopper to degrade before eating it.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Reuven |last1=Yosef |first2=Douglas W. |last2=Whitman |year=1992 |title=Predator exaptations and defensive adaptations in evolutionary balance: No defence is perfect |doi=10.1007/BF02270696 |volume=6 |issue=6 |journal=Evolutionary Ecology |pages=527–536|s2cid=23312866 }}</ref>

[[File:Occhiocotto predato.jpg|thumb|A Sardinian warbler impaled by a shrike in Italy; shrikes sometimes use man-made spikes, such as barbed wire, in place of thorns.]] Loggerhead shrikes kill vertebrates by using their beaks to grab or pierce the neck and violently shake their prey.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Diego |last1=Sustaita |first2=Margaret A. |last2=Rubega |first3=Susan M. |last3=Farabaugh |year=2018 |title=Come on baby, let's do the twist: the kinematics of killing in loggerhead shrikes |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2018.0321 |volume=14 |issue=9 |journal=Biology Letters|pmid=30185607 |pmc=6170751 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Shrikes are territorial, and these territories are defended from other pairs. In migratory species, a breeding territory is defended in the breeding grounds and a smaller feeding territory is established during migration and in the wintering grounds.<ref name = "HBW"/> Where several species of shrikes exist together, competition for territories can be intense.

Shrikes make regular use of exposed perch sites, where they adopt a conspicuous upright stance. These sites are used to watch for prey and to advertise their presence to rivals.

Shrikes vocally imitate their prey to lure them for capture.<ref name="Atkinson 1997 pp. 203–2062">{{cite journal |last=Atkinson |first=Eric C. |year=1997 |title=Singing for Your Supper: Acoustical Luring of Avian Prey by Northern Shrikes |journal=The Condor |publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=203–206 |doi=10.2307/1370239 |issn=0010-5422|doi-access=free |jstor=1370239 }}</ref> In 1575, this was noted by the English poet George Turberville.<blockquote>She will stand at perch upon some tree or poste, and there make an exceedingly lamentable crye ... All to make other fowles to thinke that she is very much distressed ... whereupon the credulous sellie birds do flocke together at her call. If any happen to approach near her, she ... ceazeth on them, and devoureth them (ungrateful subtill fowle).<ref name="Internet Archive 2023 c139">{{cite web |date=2023-03-25 |title=The booke of falconrie or hawking : for the onely delight and pleasure of all noblemen and gentlemen : collected out of the best authors, aswell Italians as Frenchmen, and some English practises withall concerning falconrie: Turberville, George, 1540?-1610? |url=https://archive.org/details/bookeoffalconrie00turb |website=Internet Archive |page=73}}</ref></blockquote>

===Breeding=== Shrikes are generally monogamous breeders, although polygyny has been recorded in some species.<ref name = "HBW"/> Co-operative breeding, where younger birds help their parents raise the next generation of young, has been recorded in both species in the genera ''Eurocephalus'' and ''Corvinella'', as well as one species of ''Lanius''. Males attract females to their territory with well-stocked caches, which may include inedible but brightly coloured items. During courtship, the male performs a ritualised dance which includes actions that mimic the skewering of prey on thorns, and feeds the female. Shrikes make simple, cup-shaped nests from twigs and grasses, in bushes and the lower branches of trees.<ref name=EoB/>

==Species in taxonomic order== '''FAMILY: LANIIDAE'''<ref name=ioc/> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Genus !! Living species |- |175px |'''''Eurocephalus''''' {{small|A. Smith, 1836}} | * Northern white-crowned shrike, ''Eurocephalus ruppelli'' Bonaparte, 1853 * Southern white-crowned shrike, ''Eurocephalus anguitimens'' Smith, A, 1836 |- |175px||'''''Lanius''''' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}}|| * Yellow-billed shrike, ''Lanius corvinus'' Shaw, 1809 * Magpie shrike, ''Lanius melanoleucus'' Jardine, 1831 * Long-tailed fiscal, ''Lanius cabanisi'' Hartert, EJO, 1906 * Grey-backed fiscal, ''Lanius excubitoroides'' Prévost & des Murs, 1847 * Taita fiscal, ''Lanius dorsalis'' Cabanis, 1878 * Great grey shrike or northern shrike, ''Lanius excubitor'' Linnaeus, 1758 ** Steppe grey shrike, ''Lanius excubitor pallidirostris'' Cassin, 1851 * Somali fiscal, ''Lanius somalicus'' Hartlaub & Heuglin, 1859 * Loggerhead shrike, ''Lanius ludovicianus'' Linnaeus, 1766 * Giant grey shrike, ''Lanius giganteus'' Przevalski, 1887 * Chinese grey shrike, ''Lanius sphenocercus'' Cabanis, 1873 * Iberian grey shrike, ''Lanius meridionalis'' Temminck, 1820 * Northern shrike, ''Lanius borealis'' Vieillot, 1808 * Masked shrike, ''Lanius nubicus'' Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823 * São Tomé fiscal, ''Lanius newtoni'' Barboza du Bocage, 1891 * Northern fiscal, ''Lanius humeralis'' Stanley, 1814 * Emin's shrike, ''Lanius gubernator'' Hartlaub, 1882 * Mackinnon's shrike, ''Lanius mackinnoni'' Sharpe, 1891 * Souza's shrike, ''Lanius souzae'' Barboza du Bocage, 1878 * Southern fiscal, ''Lanius collaris'' Linnaeus, 1766 ** Uhehe fiscal, ''Lanius collaris marwitzi'' *Lesser grey shrike, ''Lanius minor'' Gmelin, JF, 1788 * Woodchat shrike, ''Lanius senator'' Linnaeus, 1758 * Burmese shrike, ''Lanius collurioides'' Lesson, RP, 1831 * Tiger shrike, ''Lanius tigrinus'' Drapiez, 1828 * Bay-backed shrike, ''Lanius vittatus'' Valenciennes, 1826 * Isabelline shrike, ''Lanius isabellinus'' Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833 * Red-backed shrike, ''Lanius collurio'' Linnaeus, 1758 * Red-tailed shrike, ''Lanius phoenicuroides'' (Schalow, 1875) * Mountain shrike or grey-capped shrike, ''Lanius validirostris'' Ogilvie-Grant, 1894 * Brown shrike, ''Lanius cristatus'' Linnaeus, 1758 * Bull-headed shrike, ''Lanius bucephalus'' Temminck & Schlegel, 1845 * Long-tailed shrike, ''Lanius schach'' Linnaeus, 1758 * Grey-backed shrike, ''Lanius tephronotus'' (Vigors, 1831) |- |}

== In popular culture == The science-fiction novel series ''Hyperion Cantos'' by Dan Simmons features a creature called the Shrike, which impales its human victims on the thorns protruding from its body, as well as on a large metal tree where it displays its prey.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simmons |first=Dan |title=Hyperion Cantos |publisher=Doubleday Direct |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-56865-175-0}}</ref>

A serial killer who snaps the necks of his victims is known as The Shrike in Michael Connelly's ''Fair Warning''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Connelly |first=Michael |title=Fair Warning |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-316-53942-5}}</ref>

There is a song called "Shrike" by the Irish musician Hozier, and its lyrics are a direct reference to the bird's habit of impaling its prey on thorns.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOBHyBPPSow&list=RDDOBHyBPPSow|title=Hozier - Shrike (Official Audio)|date=May 20, 2022|access-date=May 6, 2026|via=YouTube}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{Refbegin}} * {{ cite journal | last1=Fuchs | first1=J. | last2=Alström | first2=P. | last3=Yosef | first3=R. | last4=Olsson | first4=U. | year=2019 | title=Miocene diversification of an open-habitat predatorial passerine radiation, the shrikes (Aves: Passeriformes: Laniidae) | journal=Zoologica Scripta | volume= 48| issue= 5| pages=571–588 | doi=10.1111/zsc.12363 | s2cid=202027002 | url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02961301/file/Fuchs%20et%20al.%20-%202019%20-%20Miocene%20diversification%20of%20an%20open-habitat%20predato.pdf }} {{Refend}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Laniidae}} * {{Cite NSRW|short=x|wstitle=Shrike}}

Category:Laniidae