The Iberian grey shrike (''Lanius meridionalis'') is a member of the

shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...

family. It is closely related to the great grey shrike, ''Lanius excubitor'', and its plumage is generally similar to the great grey shrike apart from the differences noted below. The Iberian was previously considered conspecific with the great grey; where they co-occur, they do not interbreed and are separated by choice of habitat.Sangster, George; Knox, Alan G.; Helbig, Andreas J. & Parkin, David T. (2002): Taxonomic recommendations for European birds. '' Ibis'' 144(1): 153–159.
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Taxonomy and systematics

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 ''meridionalis'' is Latin for "southern". The common English name "shrike" is from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''scríc'', "shriek", referring to the shrill call. It is resident in southern Europe. It is slightly smaller and darker than the great grey shrike, and prefers dry open country.

Behaviour and ecology

This medium-sized passerine bird eats large insects, small

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

and

rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are nat ...

. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

as a " larder".

References

Bibliography

Identification

* Jorma Tenovuo & Juha Varrela (1998) Identification of the Great Grey Shrike complex in Europe '' Alula'' 4(1): 4 - 11 *Clement, Peter, and Tim Worfolk (1995) Southern and eastern Great Grey Shrikes in northwest Europe '' Birding World'' 8(8) 300-309

External links

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.7 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:shrike, grey, Iberian

Iberian grey shrike The Iberian grey shrike (''Lanius meridionalis'') is a member of the shrike family. It is closely related to the great grey shrike, ''Lanius excubitor'', and its plumage is generally similar to the great grey shrike apart from the differences not ...

Birds of Southern Europe