Tiger Shrike
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| Lanius tigrinus Drapiez, 1828 |
The Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus) is a small passerine bird which belongs to the shrike family. It is found across eastern Asia.
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[edit] Description
The adult male Tiger Shrike is 17-19 cm long and is reddish-brown above with blackish bars. The underparts are white and it has a black mask and grey crown and nape. Females are duller in colour than the males and have a white stripe above the eye and black barring on the flanks. Young birds have dark scale-like markings and lack the grey and black on the head. They are similar to the juvenile Brown Shrike but have a thicker bill and shorter tail, lack a dark mask and are more contrastingly marked. The call is a harsh chattering.
[edit] Habitat and range
It breeds in open woodland, forest edges and farmland with scattered trees in central and eastern China, Korea, Japan (northern and central Honshū) and the Russian Far East. It winters mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia. It has a wide distribution and is not considered threatened although it has declined recently in Japan.
[edit] Diet and reproduction
It feeds on small animals, especially insects. It typically hunts from a perch at the forest edge, perching less conspicuously than many other shrikes. The breeding season lasts from May to July. 3-6 eggs are laid in a nest high in a tree and incubated for 14-15 days.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Lanius tigrinus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.
- Mark A. Brazil (1991) The Birds of Japan, Christopher Helm, London
- John MacKinnon & Karen Phillipps (2000) A Field Guide to the Birds of China, Oxford University Press, Oxford
- Craig Robson (2002), A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia, New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd.
[edit] External links
Categories: Least Concern species | Lanius | Birds of Southeast Asia | Birds of Brunei | Birds of Myanmar | Birds of Laos | Birds of Vietnam | Birds of Cambodia | Birds of Thailand | Birds of Malaysia | Birds of Singapore | Birds of the Philippines | Birds of Asia | Birds of Bhutan | Birds of China | Birds of Japan | Birds of North Korea | Birds of South Korea | Birds of Taiwan | Birds of Russia | Birds of India | Birds of Hong Kong
