Lanius bucephalus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The bull-headed shrike (Lanius bucephalus) is a passerine bird of eastern Asia belonging to the shrike family Laniidae. It is 19–20 cm (approx. 7.48-7.9 inches) long. The male has a brown crown, white eyebrow and black mask. The back is grey-brown while the wings are dark with a white patch. The flanks are rufous and the rest of the underparts are whitish with fine barring. Females are similar but duller and browner with a brown mask and no white wing-patch. The species has harsh grating and chattering calls and will also mimic other birds.
It breeds in north-east China, Korea, Japan and far-eastern Russia (Ussuriland, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands). Northern birds migrate south for the winter with a few reaching southern China. Vagrants have been recorded in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam. The isolated race sicarius is found only in the mountains of Gansu Province in west-central China.
Open habitats such as farmland and woodland edges are preferred. It also visits parks and gardens in urban areas. It sits on a prominent perch, waiting for prey to pass by. It feeds mainly on insects such as beetles and crickets but also preys on lizards and crustaceans.
With some other species from the Lanius genus, like the great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor), the bull-headed shrike is known to impale some of its preys upon a sharp point – usually thorns – so the food can be ripped into bite-sized pieces more easily. It may also do this to cache food and to mark a territory boundary.
The nest is built among bushes or bamboo. Two to six eggs are laid. They are incubated for 14 to 15 days and the young birds fledge 14 days after hatching. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bull-headed Shrike sighting in Seoul on a given day, based on 363 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 76th most-seen of the 231 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bull-headed Shrike in Seoul on a given day, against under 5% in March to September, the lowest months. Those are among Seoul's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 360 mm in July.
Between 1 and 4 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bull-headed Shrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
13th of 19
Of the 19 cities where we can rate Bull-headed Shrike sightings, Seoul ranks 13th at under 5%. The best odds are in Nagoya (Japan, about 40%), Sendai (Japan, about 40%) and Tokyo (Japan, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bull-headed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Seoul (363 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.
