Lanius bucephalus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
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.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Bull-headed Shrike sighting in Tokyo on a given day, based on 6,007 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 24th most-seen of the 229 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Bull-headed Shrike in Tokyo on a given day, against under 5% in July, the lowest month. That is one of Tokyo's wettest months, with about 250 mm of rain against 75 mm in February.
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.
3rd of 19
Of the 19 cities where we can rate Bull-headed Shrike sightings, Tokyo ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Nagoya (Japan, about 40%) and Sendai (Japan, about 40%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Bull-headed Shrike that you can see in Tokyo (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Brown-eared Bulbul (about 90%), Eurasian Tree Sparrow (about 80%) and Large-billed Crow (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bull-headed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Tokyo (6,007 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.
