Lanius collurio
Silhouette: Zeynel Cebeci · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-backed Shrike sighting in Picos de Europa National Park on a given day, based on 78 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 71st most-seen of the 112 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-backed Shrike in Picos de Europa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
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.
36th of 65
Of the 65 parks where we can rate Red-backed Shrike sightings, Picos de Europa National Park ranks 36th at about 10%. The best odds are in Fertő-Hanság National Park (Hungary, about 40%), Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, about 40%) and Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Red-backed Shrike that you can see in Picos de Europa National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Eurasian Blackbird (about 70%), Black Redstart (about 70%) and European Robin (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-backed Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Picos de Europa National Park (78 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.
