The Great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large songbird that breeds in northern Europe and Asia. The scientific name of the Great grey shrike literally means "sentinel butcher". This refers to the birds' two most conspicuous behaviours - storing food animals by impaling them on thorns and using exposed tree-tops or poles to watch the surrounding area for possible prey.
An adult Great grey shrike is medium in size. The general color of the upperparts is pearl grey, tinged brownish. The cheeks and chin as well as a thin and often hard-to-see stripe above the eye are white, and a deep black mask extends from the beak through the eye to the ear coverts; the area immediately above the beak is grey. The scapulars (shoulder feathers) are white, and the wings are black with a white bar made up by the bases of the primary remiges, continuing slightly offset onto the bases of the secondary remiges in some regions. The tail is black, long, and pointed at the tip; the outer rectrices have white outer vanes. The underparts are white, slightly tinged with grey in most subspecies. In particular, the breast is usually darker and sometimes browner than the rest of the light underside, and may appear as an indistinct band between the lighter belly and white throat. The bill is large and hooked at the tip and colored nearly black, but pale at the base of the under mandible (though the extent varies seasonally). The legs and feet are blackish. Males and females are about the same size and do not differ conspicuously in appearance except by direct comparison. In the female, the underparts are greyer and are usually visibly barred greyish-brown, and the white wing and tail markings are characteristically less in extent (though this is rarely clearly visible except in flight). Fledged young birds are heavily tinged greyish-brown all over, with barring on the upperside and indistinct buffy-white markings. The tips of the tertiary remiges and the wing coverts are also buffy, with a black band in the latter. In the North American subspecies borealis, the fledglings are tinged quite brown indeed on the upperside and wings and have sharp and dark underside bars. In Eurasia, fledglings molt into a female-like plumage with the tertiary bars usually remaining in autumn. Across its range, the young acquire the adult plumage in their first spring.
Great grey shrikes breed in Eurasia and northern Africa. They are short-distance migrants with most populations migrating south in winter to temperate regions. Great grey shrikes prefer to live in open grassland, perhaps with shrubs interspersed, and adjacent lookout points. In the steppe, they use any isolated perch, be it fence posts, power lines, or rocks. They avoid low grassland with no lookouts and nesting opportunities (trees or large shrubs), as well as dense forest with no hunting ground. Apart from grassland, Great grey shrikes can also be found in bogs, clearings, forest edges, or non-industrially farmed fields.
Great grey shrikes are social but territorial birds. They breed in dispersed groups located about 5 km (3.1 mi) apart. Before and after the nesting season, groups of breeding birds sometimes gather in flocks at the boundary of the group's combined range or in the unclaimed land separating it from neighboring groups. In winter, Great grey shrikes often gather in small groups and roost together, particularly to keep warm during the night. Throughout the year, the birds regularly but briefly move through a range up to three times larger than their territory. Great grey shrikes hunt, by perching on the topmost branch of a tree, or a similar elevated spot some meters/yards above ground. They may also scan the grassland below from flight, essentially staying in one place during prolonged bouts of mainly hovering flight that may last up to 20 minutes. It will drop down in a light glide for terrestrial prey or swoop hawk-like on a flying insect. Small birds are sometimes caught in flight too, usually by approaching them from below and behind and seizing their feet with the beak. Great grey shrikes use various calls to communicate with each other. The male's song consists of short pleasant warbling strophes, interspersed with fluid whistles 'tu-tu-krr-pree-pree' or 'trr-turit trr-turit'. To announce that someone straying into its territory the male gives long shrill raspy whistles like 'trrii(u)' or '(t')kwiiet'. To announce to females, it often mixes these whistles with a strophe of the song. When disturbed, the alarm note is a harsh jay-like 'k(w)eee, greee' or 'jaaa', often repeated twice. A bird of prey alert is a whistle 'breezeek'. 'Knuk' calls are given by adults confronted with a potential threat to their young.
Great grey shrikes are carnivores. They eat small rodents, songbirds, other passerines, lizards, and frogs, and toads (typically as tadpoles). They also consume beetles, crickets and grasshoppers, bumblebees, wasps, spiders and scorpions, crayfish and isopods, snails, and oligochaete worms. Carrion and berries are rarely if ever eaten.
Great grey shrikes are serially monogamous; they form strong pair bonds but they last only for one breeding season. Great grey shrikes breed during the summer and may raise two broods a year. To seek out potential mates, males will venture outside their breeding territories. If a female thus encountered finds a male to her liking, she will visit to see whether they get along well and inspect the nesting sites he can offer. At first, the female rebuffs the male, only allowing him to feed her. Males give increasingly vocal displays and show off the white markings of the wings in flight and of the tail by fanning it and turning away from the female. He also occasionally turns to sit at a right angle to her. Eventually, the female will join in the male's displays, and the songs will become duets. When the eggs are nearly ready to lay, the male guards his partner closely, perching higher than her to watch for threats and frequently feeding her. Great grey shrikes build their nests in April or May more than 1 m (3.3 ft) above ground in trees. Both partners build the nest together, the male collects most of the nesting material. The cup nest measures 20-28 cm (7.9-11 in) in outer diameter and is lined with fine twigs and roots, lichen, hair, and feathers. Laying usually takes place in May and the clutch consists of 3 to 9 eggs. Incubation takes around 16 days and is generally done only by the female. While the male may briefly take over incubating, his task during this time is to provide food. The altricial nestlings hatch naked, blind, and pink-skinned, weighing c. 4 g (0.14 oz); their skin turns darker after a few days. As the nestlings grow, the female broods them and later provides food. The young fledge after 2-3 weeks and become independent of their parents about 3-6 weeks later. Reproductive maturity is usually reached during their first spring.
Great grey shrikes are not considered a threatened species but their population seems to be declining in the European part of their range since the 1970s. The main threats include habitat loss due to agricultural development, the use of pesticides, disturbance from humans, and harsh winters.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Great grey shrike is unknown but in Europe, the breeding population has been estimated to be around 69,000-176,000 pairs. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, but its numbers today are decreasing.
