Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor)
About the Lesser Grey Shrike
The lesser grey shrike (Lanius minor) is a passerine bird in the shrike family Laniidae. It breeds in South and Central Europe and western Asia and migrates to winter quarters in southern Africa in the early autumn, returning in spring. It is a scarce vagrant to western Europe, including Great Britain, usually as a spring or autumn erratic. It is similar in appearance to the great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) and the Iberian grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis); both sexes are predominantly black, white and grey, and males have pink-flushed underparts. It is slightly smaller than the great grey shrike, and has a black forehead and relatively longer wings. This species prefers dry open lowlands and is often seen on telephone wires.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 56 recordings for this species: 10 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Brown ShrikeLanius cristatusrecording
- Bull-headed ShrikeLanius bucephalusrecording
- Great Grey ShrikeLanius excubitorrecording
- Loggerhead ShrikeLanius ludovicianusrecording
- Long-tailed FiscalLanius cabanisirecording
- Northern FiscalLanius humeralisrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.