Woodchat Shrike (Lanius) [XC341122]
by Esperanza Poveda from bollullos par del condado, huelva, andaluc\u00eda, Spain (call)
Woodchat Shrike (Lanius) [XC748843]
by Stein \u00d8. Nilsen from Formentera (near Platja de Migjorn), Illes Balears, Illes Balears, Spain (call)
Nest
A strong cup of leafy material and roots, lined, on a horizontal branch up to 5 meter above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 6; greenish with brown and olive speckles at the larger end.
Subspecies
Validity of subspecies rutilans has been questioned and is possibly better merged with nominate. Proposed subspecies hensii (from Sicily) synonymized with nominate.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
senator Linnaeus, 1758 - Breeds patchily from northern Spain and central and southern France (mainly Languedoc-Roussillon and Côte d’Azur) east to Sicily and Greece (including Corfu, Crete and most bigger islands in Aegean Sea), coastal Balkans east to southern Bulgaria and western Turkey, and also locally and irregularly in Switzerland, south-western Germany (upper Rhine Valley, foothills of Swabian Mts, Saarland), south-eastern Poland and south-western Slovakia. Non-breeding western and central Africa.
rutilans Temminck, 1839 - Breeds Iberian Peninsula (except northern Spain) and north-western Africa, from Moroccan Atlantic coast east to north-western and north-eastern Libya, south to southern slopes of Anti-Atlas and Middle and High Atlas. Non-breeding western Africa.
badius Hartlaub, 1854 - Breeds islands in western Mediterranean (Balearics, Capraia, Corsica, Sardinia). Non-breeding western Africa.
niloticus (Bonaparte, 1853) - Breeds Cyprus, southern and eastern Turkey, Levant and northern Iraq (Kurdistan) east to Iran (Zagros Mts; possibly also Seast to Baluchistan and in Elburz Mts). Non-breeding eastern Africa and south-western Arabia.
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