Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor) [XC183553]
by Albert Lastukhin from Zhanakorgan District, Kyzylorda Province, Kazakhstan (call)
Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor) [XC139416]
by Thijs Fijen from Kakheti, Georgia (call, song)
Nest
A cup composd of plant material, often unlined, usually in a small tree, about 5 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 6; pale bluish-green with olive and lavender-grey spots.
Subspecies
Affiliations uncertain. Nearest relative seems to be Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach). Geographical variation insignificant and clinal, plumage coloration becoming paler and size larger from west to east.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
minor Gmelin, 1788 - Breeds north-eastern Spain and southern France,
Italy (from Piemont east to Venezia, southern patchily to Sicily), eastern Austria,
Slovakia, Hungary and Balkans (south to northern Greece and east to Black Sea),
also southern Lithuania, Belarus and south-western Russia (east to Urals, south to Crimea and
Caucasus), south to Turkey, northern Syria, Lebanon and northern Iraq. Non-breeding S
Africa.
turanicus Fediushin, 1927 - Breeds western Siberia (east of Ural
Mts) east to Russian Altai and extreme north-western China (north-western Xinjiang), southern to
Azerbaijan and north-western and northern Iran, northern Turkmenistan and north-eastern Afghanistan);
non-breeding southern Africa.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet