Long-tailed Shrike
Lanius schach
A large, noisy shrike typical of open habitats across Asia. Adults have a dark mask and a light gray upper back with a variable amount of orange on lower back and flanks. Eastern subspecies has complete black cap; melanistic form has more extensive dark mask and is darker overall. Smaller Bay-backed Shrike has thicker black mask; Gray-backed Shrike has darker gray back and lacks orange coloration and white in wings. Juveniles difficult to separate from other juvenile shrikes. Gives loud, screeching calls; also mimics other birds.
识别特征
The long-tailed shrike is a typical shrike, favouring dry open habitats and found perched prominently atop a bush or on a wire. The dark mask through the eye is broad and covers the forehead in most subspecies and the whole head is black in subspecies tricolor and nasutus. The tail is narrow and graduated with pale rufous on the outer feathers. Subspecies erythronotus has the grey of the mantle and upper back suffused with rufous while the southern Indian caniceps has pure grey. A small amount of white is present at the base of the primaries. The bay-backed shrike is smaller and more contrastingly patterned and has a more prominent white patch on the wing. The sexes are alike in plumage.
分类信息
The long-tailed shrike was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Lanius schach. Linnaeus cited the description that the Swedish explorer Pehr Osbeck had included in the account of his stay in China. The type locality is the Canton area of China. The genus name, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The specific schach is an onomatopoeic name based on the call. The common English name "shrike" is from Old English scríc, "shriek", referring to the shrill call.<p>Nine subspecies are recognised:<p>Stuart Baker in the second edition of The Fauna of British India considered Lanius schach, Lanius tephronotus and Lanius tricolor as three species. He considered nigriceps as synonymous with tricolor and included erythronotus as a race of schach. Other treatments were proposed by Hugh Whistler and N B Kinnear where tephronotus was considered a subspecies of schach and nigriceps and nasutus grouped together. Another treatment considered tricolor as a subspecies of L. tephronotus. It was subsequently however noted that tephronotus and schach co-occurred in the Kumaon region and so the two were confirmed as distinct species. Molecular distances also indicate that they are distant enough. The erythronotus group have a grey head which continues into the back with a gradual suffusion of rufous. The westernmost population from Transcaspia named by Sergei Buturlin as jaxartensis and said to be larger, is not considered valid. A very light grey form from western dry region of India named by Walter Koelz as kathiawarensis is also considered merely as a variant. In southern India and Sri Lanka, subspecies caniceps, is marked by the rufous restricted to the rump, light crown and the pure grey on the back. Biswamoy Biswas supported the view that nigriceps (having upper mantle grey and lower mantle rufous) was a hybrid of tricolor and erythronotus.<p>Subspecies longicaudatus has a greyer crown and is found in Thailand and Burma. The nominate subspecies is found in China from the Yangtze valley south to Hainan and Taiwan. Some individuals of the nominate form show melanism and were once described as a species fuscatus. Island forms include nasutus (Philippine Islands from Mindanao to Luzon and north Borneo), suluensis (Sulu Island), bentet (Sunda Islands and Sumatra other than Borneo) and stresemanni of New Guinea.
- 学名
- Lanius schach
- 命名信息
- Linnaeus, 1758
- 目
- Passeriformes
- 科
- Laniidae
- 属
- Lanius
分布与栖息地
The species is found across Asia from Kazakhstan to New Guinea. It is found mainly in scrub and open habitats. Many of the temperate zone populations are migratory, moving south in winter while those in the tropics tend to be sedentary although they may make short distance movements. Subspecies caniceps of southern India is found in winter in the dry coastal zone of southern India. Subspecies tricolor migrates south to Bengal in India. They are found in scrub, grassland and open land under cultivation. A survey in southern India found them to be among the commonest wintering shrikes and found at a linear density along roadsides at about 0.58 per kilometer, often choosing wires to perch.<p>This species is a rare vagrant to western Europe on the strength of two accepted records in Great Britain on South Uist in November 2000 and the Netherlands near Den Helder in October 2011. A bird matching the features of caniceps was seen on the island of Maldives. It has also occurred as a vagrant to Jordan, Israel, Turkey,
- 迁徙
- Complete migrants
行为
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- unknown
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Dusky Nightjar
Antrostomus saturatus
Small dark nightjar with very limited range in the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama. Few obvious plumage features: entire body is intricately patterned with dark brown, black, and buff. Pale corners to tail (white in male, buffy in female). Fairly common above around 1,500 m, where it can be found at the edge of cloud forest. Usually perches on a fence post or low branch. Strictly nocturnal, and easily detected by voice; listen for the trilled “whip, wee-per-wee!,” rising at the end. Closely related to whip-poor-wills further north.
Sabota Lark
Calendulauda sabota
A medium-sized, streaky lark with a strong white eyebrow that gives it a capped appearance and a bold face pattern that is emphasized by a white crescent under the eye and strong moustachial streaks. The heavily streaked breast contrasts with a plain whitish belly and throat. The western races in South Africa’s Northern Cape and in Namibia have heavier, longer bills than their eastern counterparts. Pairs are resident in Karoo shrubland and arid savanna, preferring grassy areas. In spring and summer, the male sits up on a prominent perch singing a rich, melodious, variable song that often includes imitations of other birds. The Sabota Lark lacks the rufous wing panel present in Fawn-colored, Flappet, and Rufous-naped Larks.
Orange-billed Lorikeet
Neopsittacus pullicauda
A medium-sized, long-tailed parrot of upper-montane cloud forest and clearings. Predominantly green with a bright red patch from the chest to the belly, broadest in the chest. Orange bill and pale green streaks on the face. Readily seen flying in small flocks. Similar to Yellow-billed Lorikeet, but Orange-billed Lorikeet is usually found at higher elevations, is slightly smaller with an obviously orange bill and greenish undertail. Call, a ringing, high-pitch phrase “sik siruk!” or single “Sik!” note.
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