Red-tailed shrike | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Laniidae |
Genus: | Lanius |
Species: | L. phoenicuroides
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Binomial name | |
Lanius phoenicuroides (Schalow, 1875)
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Breeding range of Lanius (isabellinus) phoenicuroides
Breeding range of Lanius isabellinus
Overwintering range
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The red-tailed shrike or Turkestan shrike[2] (Lanius phoenicuroides) is a member of the shrike family (Laniidae). It was formerly considered conspecific with the isabelline shrike and the red-backed shrike.
The plumage is a sandy colour. It has a red tail.[3]
The red-tailed shrike breeds in south Siberia and Central Asia.
This migratory medium-sized passerine eats large insects, small birds, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a larder. It breeds in open cultivated country, preferably with thorn bushes.