The First Record of Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) in British Columbia and Canada. By Rick Toochin. Published: June 3, 2023.

 

The Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) is a small carnivorous passerine species this is found breeding in across northern Europe from Norway, Sweden, and Finland across eastern Europe, throughout Russia to eastern and west-central Siberia, east to northern Kazakhstan, and the Altai region of south-central Russia; also found breeding in southern Europe from Portugal and Spain, across southern Mediterranean Europe into the Balkans, Asia Minor, Levant, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997, Yosef et al. 2020a). This species breeds in temperate and Mediterranean climates (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997). It requires sunny, warm, usually dry, and level or gently sloping terrain, with scattered bushes, shrubs or low trees providing hunting posts overlooking areas of short grass, heath or bare soil (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997). High-quality habitats tend to feature mosaic-like grassy vegetation with alternating areas of tall and short growth and bare areas, with perches (Yosef et al. 2020a). In agricultural areas it occupies neglected overgrown patches, heaths, open downs, overgrown orchards and gardens, hedgerows, and scrub along railways or roadsides (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997). It is also found in temporary steppe-like habitats, such as military training areas, burned forests, forest clearings and spruce (Picea) plantations (Yosef et al. 2012). It is an opportunistic feeder, feeding mostly on insects and other invertebrates as well as small mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997). 

 

The Red-backed Shrike is a highly migratory species; northern migration in the spring follows a more eastern course than during the fall migration, and notable for concentration of migration routes across and around the eastern end of Mediterranean, even by populations breeding in extreme Western Europe (Yosef et al. 2020a). This species is a nocturnal migrant (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997). The Red-backed Shrike leaves the breeding grounds from late July, mostly in second half August and early September, with a general direction of movement the southeast or south-southeast towards the eastern Mediterranean; those crossing Mediterranean Sea make landfall on the North African coast almost entirely east of 20° East; with passage through Egypt mainly from mid-August to early November, with the first arrivals in the extreme southern regions the of wintering areas arriving in late October (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997, Yosef et al. 2020a). 

 

The Red-backed Shrike winters in in eastern and southern parts of Africa from extreme southern Somalia (where it is rare) and southeastern and coastal Kenya, but the main bulk of the population winters south from Zambia and Malawi. (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997).

 

Spring migration from the winter quarters begins second half March, with all birds having left the extreme southern regions of Africa by about the middle of April (Lefranc and Worfolk 1997, Yosef et al. 2020a). The more eastern course of the spring migration is most evident in East Africa and divergence between spring and autumn routes are more pronounced farther north (Yosef et al. 2020a). Arrival on the breeding grounds begins in April in northern Israel, mostly during the month of May in Europe; with males generally reaching the breeding areas a few days before females; often up to five days earlier in Europe (Yosef et al. 2020a).

 

The Red-backed Shrike is an accidental migrant vagrant in both Japan (Furuichi et al. 2010) and Korea (Brazil 2009)

 

In North America, the Red-backed Shrike is an accidental migrant vagrant with only a single previous accepted photographed record of an immature bird found at Gamble, on St. Lawrence Island from October 3-22, 2017 (e-bird database 2020). The most recent record in British Columbia is only the second record for North America.

 

The identification of the Red-backed Shrike is not found in any standard North American Field Guide and requires reading a European Field Guide. This species measures 17–19 cm in length and weighing 22.5–34 grams (Mullarney and Zetterstrom 2009). This is rather small shrike with short wings and longish tail; when excited, indulges in tail movement in the form of a loose flick or curving swing, accompanied by partial spreading of tail (Jonsson 1992, Mullarney and Zetterstrom 2009). In the context of British Columbia, there are no other regularly occurring species of Shrike that look like this species. 

 

The following age descriptions of the Red-backed Shrike are taken from Jonsson (1992), Lewington et al. (1992), Mullarney and Zetterstrom (2009), Pyle et al. (2015), and Yosef et al. (2020).

Adult male has a bluish-grey upper forehead and crown to nape and hindneck, black lower on the forehead and a mask from the lores to the rear of ear-coverts; the mantle, scapulars and back bright chestnut; the rump and uppertail-coverts bluish-grey; upperwing blackish, feathers edged chestnut, sometimes a very small white patch at base of the primaries; the tail is black, all except the central pair of the feathers with white base, the outermost pair with white outer web (in flight, all-black central tail feathers and black terminal band on others form inverted T-shape on white background); chin and throat white, underparts very light salmon-pink, undertail-coverts white, sometimes some dark barring on flanks (this is present on 4% of males trapped in Germany); the iris is dark brown; the bill black or blackish, paler or bluish base in non-breeding season; the legs black or dark brown. 

 

The female is like the male, but is generally paler and duller, with a creamy lower forehead and supercilium and brown ear-coverts. The facial mask thus restricted and much less distinct, with the crown and upperparts warm brown or greyish brown; the nape usually tinged greyish, but this is variable, some with head pattern more like male; the rump and uppertail-coverts grey to greyish brown, the tail dark brown to rufous-brown with whitish edges and tip. This is variable, some with tail patterns like that of the male. The upperwing is like the male, but the fringes are paler and duller; creamy below, often with pale pinkish-buff wash on the sides of breast and flanks, vermiculated with blackish, except on the throat and undertail-coverts; bare parts are like that of the male, but the bill and legs are slightly paler. 

Juvenile birds are like the female, but with even less contrast in plumage. The entire upperside, including top of head, rump, upperwing-coverts and tertials, rufous-brown to buffish-brown with heavy blackish crescentic barring, underside more heavily vermiculated than female. 

 

The Red-backed Shrike is currently treated by authorities as monotypic (Yosef et al. 2020a). There are 2 proposed subspecies, which are not currently recognized including (Lanius collurio kobylini) found in southeastern Europe to Asia Minor and northeastern Iran and (Lanius collurio pallidifrons) found in western and west-central Siberia (Cramp and Perrins 1993). These proposed subspecies differ little in overall plumage characteristics but can appear to be individually variable with (Lanius collurio kobylini) appearing somewhat duller than the (Lanius collurio collurio), with a greyer upper mantle; and (Lanius collurio pallidifrons) having a paler crown and hindneck than (Lanius collurio collurio) (Cramp and Perrins 1993).

 

The Red-backed Shrike is closely related to the Brown Shrike (L. cristatus) which has 4 distinct subspecies all found in East Asia (Yosef et al. 2020c). The nominate subspecies of Brown Shrike (Brown) (Lanius cristatus cristatus) breeds from central and eastern Siberia, south to northern Mongolia, the Lake Baikal area, northern Sakhalin Island, eastern Chukotka, and Kamchatka; winter range is from central and southern India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar (mainly along the coast), and Malay Peninsula (Brazil 2010, Yosef et al. 2020c). Another part of the nominate subspecies of Brown Shrike is (Lanius cristatus confuses) which breeds from eastern Mongolia, southeastern Russia (in southeastern Transbaikalia, east to Amurland and Ussuriland) and northeastern China; with birds wintering on the southern Malay Peninsula and Sumatra (Brazil 2010, Yosef et al. 2020c). The third subspecies of Brown Shrike (Japanese) is (Lanius cristatus superciliosus) found breeding from the coastal Russian Far East, southern Sakhalin Island, to the southern Kuril Islands, and to northern and central Japan (around Hokkaido, as well as northern and Central Honshu); birds’ winter mainly in coastal southern China, Hainan, northeastern and eastern Indochina, Sumatra, Java and the western Lesser Sundas (Brazil 2009, Yosef et al. 2020c). The fourth subspecies of the Brown Shrike (Philippine) is (Lanius cristatus lucionensis) and breeds from north and eastern China, Korea, southern Japan (Kyushu), and recently found in eastern Mongolia (Harris and Franklin 2000); birds’ winter mainly from coastal southeastern China, Taiwan, Philippines, northern Borneo, and northern Sulawesi (Harris and Franklin 2000, Yosef et al. 2020c). 

 The Brown Shrike is a casual spring and fall migrant vagrant species in Alaska from widely scattered locations such as Gambell, Shemya Island, Attu Island, Anchorage and Sitka where there are 17 records (West 2008, Gibson and Withrow 2015, Pyle et al. 2015). South of Alaska, the Brown Shrike is an accidental vagrant migrant species. In British Columbia, an immature bird was found and photographed by Peter Hamel and Margo Hearne at Skonun Point, near Masset, Haida Gwaii on October 26, 2015 (Toochin et al. 2018b), and a juvenile bird was banded and photographed at Rocky Point Bird Observatory in Metchosin from October 1-3, 2019 (D. Cecile Pers. Comm.). All other records come from California, where there are 4 accepted records by the California Bird Records Committee (Hamilton et al. 2007, Tietz and McCaskie 2020). 

The Brown Shrike is an accidental vagrant to Europe with a few well documented records (Lewington et al. 1992). Incredibly, the Brown Shrike is an accidental species to Nova Scotia, where an adult that was photographed in Halifax Harbour from November 23-Decemcer 1, 1997 (McLaren 2012).

The Red-backed Shrike is also closely related to the Red-tailed Shrike (L. phoenicuroides), also called Turkestan Shrike, which breeds from central and eastern Kazakhstan, south to Transcaspia, northeastern, eastern and southern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan (north and probably west of the Indus River, and extreme northwestern China (to northwestern Xinjiang); non-breeding mainly Arabia and northeastern and eastern Africa, with some in western Africa (del Hoyo et al. 2020), and Isabelline Shrike (L. isabellinus) which breeds in Mongolia (except the northwest), south and east Russia south into northern, central and western China, migration takes place to non-breeding grounds in Pakistan, northern India, the Middle East and northeast Africa (Yosef et al. 2020b). 

 

The Red-backed Shrike has in the past been considered conspecific with one or all of these species, but genetic analyses support treatment as separate species (Clements et al. 2016). Hybridizes with all three species (Harris and Franklin 2000, Lefranc 2007, Pyle et al. 2015): mixed pairs and hybrids with Red-tailed Shrike regular where ranges overlap; occasional hybridization with Isabelline Shrike and Brown Shrike in central Asia (Pyle et al. 2015). There is a recent record of a bird originally reported as a Brown Shrike that is now widely accepted as a likely hybrid Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) x Red-tailed Shrike (L. phoenicuroides) that was found and photographed at Manchester State Park, in Mendocino County, California from March 5-April 22, 2015 (Pyle et al. 2015, Tietz and McCaskie 2017).

 

The Red-backed Shrike also hybridizes, rarely, with Woodchat Shrike (L. senator) (Raitière 2010, Maas et al. 2013). 

 

For a more in depth read on the plumage’s differences and on the hybridization of these 4 species please read (Pyle et al. 2015). 

The Red-backed Shrike is a recent addition to the avifauna of British Columbia (Toochin et al. 2018a). This species is an accidental vagrant migrant with a well photographed juvenile bird found by Iwan Van Veen at Powell River from October 22-30, 2020 (I. Van Veer Pers. Comm.). Originally this bird was identified as a Brown Shrike, but photographs confirmed it was instead a Red-backed Shrike. This bird stayed in an open area along a powerline cut that also included large open backyards. It is likely this bird ended up in Powell River due to reverse migration. When looking at a map showing this species normal range from the perspective of straight down on the earth, a bird that deviates 180° could show up in British Columbia (see Howell et al. 2014, Pyle et al. 2015).  It is highly likely that other records of vagrancy involving birds from Eurasia have come to the west coast because of reverse migration. 

I wish to thank Don Cecile for editing the original manuscript. I would also like to thank Iwan Van Veen for not only finding this bird, for also allowing me to publish his photographs of the Powell River Red-backed Shrike. Also would like to thank Andrew Boycott for permission to use of his incredible pictures of the Red-backed Shrike. All photos are used with permission of the photographers and are fully protected by copyright law. Photographs are not to be reproduced, published or retransmitted on any website without the authorization of the photographers.

 

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