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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 magpie shrike (Lanius melanoleucus), also known as the African long-tailed shrike, is a species of bird in the family Laniidae.It is native to the grasslands of eastern and southeastern Africa, where its natural habitats are dry savannah, moist savannah, and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
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 .
Some African species are known as fiscals. That name comes from the Afrikaans word fiskaal ("public official", especially a hangman ), because they hang their prey on thorns for storage. Most Lanius species occur in Eurasia and Africa , but the Northern shrike is found in eastern Asia and North America, while the loggerhead shrike is confined ...
In eastern Africa, the southern fiscal is a major predator of the plain tiger butterfly. [10] Along with adjusting their physiology, southern fiscals also adjust their hunting methods at different times of year in response to seasonal changes in food demand. During the summer, the shrikes hunted from an hour before sunrise to right before sunset.
The family is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa but completely absent from Madagascar, [2] where the vangas are their closest relatives. [3] They are found in scrub or open woodland, and less often in marshes, Afromontane or tropical forest. They are similar in habits to shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch on a bush.
The white-crowned shrikes are large brown and white shrikes found in sub-Saharan Africa. They are gregarious species, unlike the Lanius shrikes, and have a parrot-like flight. Eurocephalus shrikes are birds of savanna and open woodland habitats, typically seen perched upright on a prominent thornbush perch. These species primarily take large ...
Serengeti, Tanzania. This is a large shrike with a length of about 25 cm (10 in). The head of the male has a grey crown, a white supercilium and a large black mask. The upper parts are medium grey, the rump is white, the wings are blackish, with a white patch which is conspicuous in flight, and the long tail has a white base and a black tip.