Lanius schach
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The long-tailed shrike or rufous-backed shrike (Lanius schach) is a member of the bird family Laniidae, the shrikes. They are found widely distributed across Asia and there are variations in plumage across the range. The species ranges across much of Asia, both on the mainland and the eastern archipelagos. The eastern or Himalayan subspecies, L. s. tricolor, is sometimes called the black-headed shrike. Although there are considerable differences in plumage among the subspecies, they all have a long and narrow black tail, have a black mask and forehead, rufous rump and flanks and a small white patch on the shoulder. It is considered to form a superspecies with the grey-backed shrike (Lanius tephronotus) which breeds on the Tibetan Plateau.
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... Wikipedia →
Recording0:14
Philippines · 2026
© bureaubenjamin · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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Philippines · 2025
© astronorm · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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China · 2026
© Dawn_Land · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Shanghai | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Ningbo | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Nanchang | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Xiuying District | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Chattogram | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 7 | Jinhua | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Quanzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 10 | Solapur | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gembira Loka Zoo | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Surabaya Zoo | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Bandung Zoo | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | 蘭陽動植物王國 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 5 | Sea World Indonesia | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Jakarta Aquarium | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Taman Safari Indonesia 2 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Shrike sighting in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, based on 1,098 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 56th most-seen of the 278 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.
January
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Shrike in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, against about 10% in June and July, the lowest months. That is one of Keoladeo National Park's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain against 240 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-tailed 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.
4th of 29
Of the 29 parks where we can rate Long-tailed Shrike sightings, Keoladeo National Park ranks 4th at about 50%. The best odds are in Mudumalai National Park (India, about 60%), Chitwan National Park (Nepal, about 50%) and Jim Corbett National Park (India, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Lanius
The closest relatives of the Long-tailed Shrike that you can see in Keoladeo National Park (genus Lanius, Typical Shrikes) are Bay-backed Shrike (about 30%) and Brown Shrike (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-tailed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Keoladeo National Park (1,098 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.
