Lanius collurio
Silhouette: Zeynel Cebeci · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) is a carnivorous passerine bird and member of the shrike family, Laniidae. Its breeding range stretches from Western Europe east to central Russia. It is migratory and winters in the eastern areas of tropical Africa and southern Africa.
The red-backed shrike was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name Lanius collurio. 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 collurio is from Ancient Greek kollurion, a bird mentioned by Aristotle. The common English name "shrike" is from Middle English *schrike, *schryke, from Old English sċrīc, "shriek", from the same root as shriek and screech, referring to the bird's shrill cry or call.
This 16–18 cm-long (6.3–7.1 in) migratory bird eats large insects, small birds, frogs, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a "larder." This practice has earned it the nickname of "butcher... Wikipedia →
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Red-backed Shrike sighting in Fertő-Hanság National Park on a given day, based on 583 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 207 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Red-backed Shrike in Fertő-Hanság National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January, March and October–November, the lowest months. That is one of Fertő-Hanság National Park's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 30 mm in March.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-backed Shrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 65 parks where we can rate Red-backed Shrike sightings, Fertő-Hanság National Park has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, about 40%) and Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 40%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-backed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Fertő-Hanság National Park (583 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
