Grey-backed Fiscal - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Juninho
Lake Naivasha, Kenya, June 2005

Lanius excubitoroides

Lanius excubitorius

Identification

21–23 cm; a small shrike with a long tail

• Black mask
• Grey back
• Tail bicolored, especially on underside

Similar Species

Very similar to Great Grey Shrike

Distribution

Africa
Western Africa: Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• L. e. excubitoroides:

• South-eastern Mauritania to western Sudan, Mali, Chad, north-eastern Zaire and Uganda

• L. e. intercedens:

• Central Ethiopia to north-western Uganda and western Kenya

• L. e. boehmi:

• Western Tanzania to Rwanda, south-western Uganda and south-western Kenya

Habitat

Forests, thornbush, savanna, wooded grassland, gardens and moist acacia scrub.

Breeds on mountain forest clearings and high plateaux meadows.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of insects, such as crickets and grasshoppers also caterpillars, beetles and small lizards.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2015)
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Grey-backed Fiscal. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Grey-backed_Fiscal

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