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Shrikes (/ ʃ r aɪ k /) are passerine birds of the family Laniidae.The family is composed of 34 species in two genera.. The family name, and that of the larger genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as butcherbirds because of the habit, particularly of males, of impaling prey onto plant spines within their territories.
The loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) is a passerine bird in the family Laniidae. It is the only member of the shrike family endemic to North America ; the related northern shrike ( L. borealis ) occurs north of its range, however it is also found in Siberia.
Lanius, the typical shrikes, are a genus of passerine birds in the shrike family Laniidae. The majority of the family's species are placed in this genus. 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.
A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA found that the northern shrike was most closely related to the Iberian grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis), the steppe grey shrike (Lanius pallidirostris), and the two formed a clade along with the Chinese grey shrike and loggerhead shrike. [8]
The loggerhead shrike is hard to distinguish, but the proportion of the head to the beak (which seems stubby in L. ludovicianus by comparison and is all-dark) is usually reliable. Indeed, the word loggerhead refers to the relatively larger head of the southern species. [25] The lesser grey shrike is a smaller and comparatively short-tailed bird.
The long-tailed shrike is a typical shrike, favouring dry open habitats and found perched prominently atop a bush or on a wire. The dark mask through the eye is broad and covers the forehead in most subspecies and the whole head is black in subspecies tricolor and nasutus. The tail is narrow and graduated with pale rufous on the outer feathers.
The southern white-crowned shrike (Eurocephalus anguitimens) is a species of bird in the family Laniidae. It is found in Angola , Botswana , Mozambique , Namibia , South Africa , and Zimbabwe . Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and dry savannah .
The southern fiscal or fiscal shrike (Lanius collaris) is a member of the shrike family found through most of southern Africa.It is also sometimes named jackie hangman or butcher bird due to its habit of impaling its prey on acacia thorns to store the food for later consumption.