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Shrikes (/ʃrk/) are carnivorous passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 33 species in four genera.

Red-backed shrike.jpg
Red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio)
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Superfamily: Corvoidea
Family: Laniidae
Rafinesque, 1815

The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as butcherbirds because of their feeding habits.[1] The common English name shrike is from Old English scrīc, alluding to the shrike's shriek-like call.[2]

Distribution, migration, and habitatEdit






A bee presumably caught and impaled by a shrike

Shrikes are known for their habit of catching insects and small vertebrates and impaling their bodies on thorns, the spikes on barbed-wire fences, or any available sharp point. This helps them to tear the flesh into smaller, more conveniently sized fragments, and serves as a cache so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time.[4] This same behaviour of impaling insects serves as an adaptation to eating the toxic lubber grasshopper, Romalea microptera. The bird waits for 1–2 days for the toxins within the grasshopper to degrade, then they can eat it.[5]





Species in taxonomic orderEdit

Lizard impaled on thorns by a southern grey shrike, Lanius meridionalis, Lanzarote

The family Laniidae was introduced (as Lanidia) by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.[6][7]


Birds with similar namesEdit





  1. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  2. ^ "Shrike". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b c Yosef, Reuven (2008). "Family Laniidae (Shrikes)". In Josep, del Hoyo; Andrew, Elliott; David, Christie (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 13, Penduline-tits to Shrikes. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 732–773. ISBN 978-84-96553-45-3.
  4. ^ a b Clancey, P.A. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. p. 180. ISBN 1-85391-186-0.
  5. ^ Yosef, Reuven; Whitman, Douglas W. (1992). "Predator exaptations and defensive adaptations in evolutionary balance: No defence is perfect". Evolutionary Ecology. 6 (6): 527–536. doi:10.1007/BF02270696.
  8. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Shrikes, vireos & shrike-babblers". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 14 August 2019.

Further readingEdit

  • Fuchs, J.; Alström, P.; Yosef, R.; Olsson, U. (2019). "Miocene diversification of an open‐habitat predatorial passerine radiation, the shrikes (Aves: Passeriformes: Laniidae)". Zoologica Scripta: 1–18. doi:10.1111/zsc.12363.

External linksEdit