Wildlifeof India
Red-tailed Shrike
Crows, Drongos, Orioles & Shrikes
Photo: (c) Suhas Saya, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY (May be cropped or resized)
Lanius phoenicuroides
Basic stats
Diet
Large insects, small birds, rodents and lizards
Habitat
Open cultivated country, preferably with thorn bushes
Range
Breeds in south Siberia and Central Asia
The red-tailed, or Turkestan, shrike was formerly considered conspecific with the isabelline shrike and the red-backed shrike. The plumage is sandy. It is a migratory, medium-sized passerine that eats large insects, small birds, rodents and lizards, and like other shrikes hunts from prominent perches and impales prey on thorns or barbed wire as a larder (Wikipedia, general species account).
It breeds in south Siberia and Central Asia, in open cultivated country preferably with thorn bushes. The cached account does not describe its occurrence in India. SoIB 2023 lists it as a passage migrant of open habitat that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).
Quick answers
- What does the Red-tailed Shrike eat?
- Large insects, small birds, rodents and lizards
- What habitat does the Red-tailed Shrike live in?
- Open cultivated country, preferably with thorn bushes
- Where is the Red-tailed Shrike found?
- Breeds in south Siberia and Central Asia