- Lanius corvinus
Corvinella corvina
Identification
18cm
- Mottled brown upperparts
- Streaked buff underparts
- Brown eye mask
- Rufous wing patch
- Yellow bill
Adults alike
Immatures have buff fringes to the wing feathers
Distribution
Africa:
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Four subspecies are recognized in this species[1]:
- L. c. corvina:
- Southern Mauritania and Senegal to Mali and north-western Nigeria
- L. c. togoensis:
- Guinea and Sierra Leone to southern Chad and Sudan (Darfur)
- L. c. caliginosa:
- western South Sudan
- L. c. affinis:
- Southern South Sudan to extreme north-eastern DRC, northern Uganda and western Kenya
Habitat
Savannah woodland & dry scrub, also well-watered gardens.
Behaviour
They move around in family groups.
Breeding
It builds a cup shaped nest; the clutch consisting of 4-5 eggs. Subadult & young adult birds assist in the rearing of nestlings.
Diet
Their diet consists of a wide variety of larger insects, such as crickets and grasshoppers.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- BF Member observations
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2015)
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-billed Shrike. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 10 February 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-billed_Shrike
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1