Magpie Shrike (Urolestes melanoleucus) [XC442773]
by Peter Boesman from Babati, Manyara Region, Tanzania (call)
Magpie Shrike (Urolestes melanoleucus) [XC530058]
by Patrick Smet from Punda Maria area, Kruger National Park, Limpopo, South Africa (song)
Subspecies
Sometimes placed in a monotypic genus, Urolestes, because of distinctive plumage coloration and pattern. Treated as congeneric with Yellow-billed Shrike (Corvinella corvina) on basis mainly of similarities in morphology (e.g. long tail), vocal communication patterns, and social behaviour (co-operative breeding, gregariousness). Subspecies angolensis sometimes synonymized with nominate, as more rarely is expressa.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
aequatorialis Reichenow, 1887 - South-western Kenya (eastern Masai Mara
Game Park) and Tanzania (from south-eastern L Victoria east to southern slopes of Mt
Kilimanjaro, south to south-eastern L Tanganyika and south-west to northern L Malawi).
angolensis (Meise, 1958) - South-western Angola and north-eastern Namibia (NE
of Namib Desert).
melanoleucus (Jardine, 1831) - Southern Zambia, Zimbabwe (except south-east), Botswana (except large parts of Kalahari) and northern South Africa.
expressus (Clancey, 1961) - South-eastern Malawi, south-eastern Zimbabwe and north-western and central Mozambique south to north-eastern South Africa (Kruger NP and north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal) and eastern Swaziland.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet