Lanius excubitor
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae). It forms a superspecies with its parapatric southern relatives, the Iberian grey shrike (L. meridionalis), the Chinese grey shrike (L. sphenocerus) and the American loggerhead shrike (L. ludovicianus). Males and females are similar in plumage, pearly grey above with a black eye-mask and white underparts.
Breeding takes place generally north of 50° northern latitude in northern Europe and Asia. Most populations migrate south in winter to temperate regions. The great grey shrike is carnivorous, with rodents making up over half its diet.
The species was first scientifically described by the Swedish physician Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema Naturae under the current binomial name. His description is L[anius] cauda cuneiformi lateribus alba, dorso cano, alis nigris macula alba – "a shrike with a wedge-shaped white-bordered tail, back grey, wings black with white spot". At that time, none of the other grey shrikes – including the lesser grey shrike (L. minor), for which the description of the tail pattern is incorrect and which some... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 3 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 9 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 10 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 12 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunis | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 5 | Riyadh | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 6 | Marrakesh | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 7 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Ramallah | 🇵🇸 Palestine | |
| 9 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 10 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Green Planet | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Great Grey Shrike sighting in Porto on a given day, based on 86 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 104th most-seen of the 175 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Great Grey Shrike in Porto on a given day, against under 5% in January to October, the lowest months. Those are among Porto's wettest months, with about 130 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Great Grey Shrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Great Grey Shrike sightings, Porto ranks 17th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tunis (Tunisia, about 20%), Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 10%) and Novosibirsk (Russia, about 10%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Great Grey Shrike that you can see in Porto (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Eurasian Magpie (about 80%), Eurasian Blackbird (about 80%) and House Sparrow (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Great Grey Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Porto (86 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
