Michele Mendi

Red-backed Shrike prefers open and semi-open habitats with a mosaic of short and tall grassy vegetation, bare ground, shrubs and low trees which provide lookout posts. Its breeding range includes most of Europe (except NW, N & SW), Asia Minor, Levant (locally) and further E in Asia to NW Iran & WC Siberia (Yosef et al. 2020). In Europe, the strongholds are in the E of the continent - Romania, Poland, Bulgaria & Russia hold 75% of the European population (Keller et al. 2020). It is a Eurasian-African migrant, wintering in E tropical and S Africa.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		16400000-26000000,20400000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Red-backed Shrike

General movement pattern is NW-SE, with routes largely concentrated in E Mediterranean. There is a loop migration, with spring migration following a more easterly course (Horn of Africa, Red Sea and W Saudi Arabia) than autumn passage (between E Libya and the Suez Canal southwards; Harris & Franklin 2000). In autumn most birds move through SE Europe; the direction varies from E (SW populations Tøttrup et al. 2017), to S or SW (N and E populations; Panov 2011). From the Balkans the birds continue S & SE. European breeders are in SE and (less so) in SC and the Middle East during migration and, during winter, in E and S Africa. However, data from geolocators show spatio-temporal differences in migration patterns compared to data from metal-ringing (Korner-Nievergelt et al. 2012).

Recoveries by Condition for Red-backed Shrike

Most recoveries are since 2000, mainly during the breeding season and migration - 98% May-Sep. The bulk of recoveries are in C, N & SC Europe (85% in total - 53, 21 & 11% respectively). Recoveries of dead birds have significantly decreased over time: from 76% before 1961 to 4% after 1991. The percentage of recoveres of birds found alive has increased from 18% before 1961 to 95% after 1991. Recoveries of shot birds are now few, although they constituted 26% of all recoveries before 1961 (mainly in the E Mediterranean & N Italy). Nowadays, most of the recoveries are of live birds, both recaptures by ringers and metal rings read in the field.

Shrikes are among the numerous birds illegally trapped and killed annually in the Mediterranean (Brochet et al. 2016).

Annual Movements for Red-backed Shrike

The populations across Europe use remarkably similar migration routes and are highly synchronized in time (Pedersen et al. 2020). Birds start to leave the breeding sites in Jul, but most departures are in Aug-Sep. SE Europe and the E Mediterranean are reached as early as Aug, but mainly in Sep-Oct (with some late records in Nov-Dec). The earliest encounters in E Sahel are in Sep. Birds are in the winter quarters from Oct. Spring migration usually starts in Mar, most encounters in E Africa and Red Sea area are from Apr, Levant - Apr-May. European breeding sites are reached in May. Tracking with geolocators revealed a loop migration of 22,000 km, with the distance travelled in spring being 22% longer than in autumn; duration was longer in autumn, but speed between sites was faster than in spring (Tøttrup et al. 2012).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Red-backed Shrike

Autumn migration is evident from late summer. European breeders are found on the Balkan Peninsula and E Mediterranean regions mostly early to mid-autumn. The wintering sites in E & S Africa are reached as early as mid-autumn, most encounters being from late autumn until early spring. Return movements within Africa take place mostly in early to mid-spring; birds are in the Middle East and Europe in late spring, when the breeding grounds are occupied. Tracking birds using geolocators and GPS tags revealed important staging areas in SE Europe & W Turkey, as well as the E Sahel zone in autumn, and in E Africa in spring; wintering grounds have been identified in S Africa (Pedersen et al. 2020, Tøttrup et al. 2012). A bird tracked from Denmark wintered in the Sahel (Chad), outside the normal winter range (Pedersen et al. 2019).

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
Brochet, A., van den Bossche, W., Jbour, S., Ndang’ang’a, P., Jones, V., Abdou, W., … Butchart, S. 2016 . Preliminary assessment of the scope and scale of illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean. Bird Conservation International 26: 1–28
Harris, T., Franklin, K. 2000 . Shrikes & Bush-shrikes: Including wood-shrikes, helmet-shrikes, flycatcher-shrikes, philentomas, batises and wattle-eyes. Christopher Helm, A & C Black, London
Korner-Nievergelt, F., Jenni, L., Tøttrup, A. P., Pasinelli, G. 2012 . Departure directions, migratory timing and nonbreeding distribution of the Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio: do ring re-encounters and light-based geolocator data tell the same story?. Ringing & Migration 27: 83–93
Panov, E. N. 2011 . The True Shrikes (Laniidae) of the World: Ecology, Behavior and Evolution. Pensoft, Sofia-Moscow
Pedersen, L., Onrubia, A., Vardanis, Y., Barboutis, C., Waasdorp, S., van Helvert, M., Geertsma, M., Ekberg, P., Willemoes, M., Strandberg, R., Matsyna, E., Matsyna, A., Klaassen, R.H.G., Alerstam, T., Thorup, K. and Tøttrup, A.P.2020 . Remarkably similar migration patterns between different red-backed shrike populations suggest that migration rather than breeding area phenology determines the annual cycle. J Avian Biol 51 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02475)
Pedersen, L., Thorup, K. & Tøttrup, A.P. 2019 . Annual GPS tracking reveals unexpected wintering area in a long-distance migratory songbird. J Ornithol 160: 265–270
Tøttrup, A. P., Klaassen, R. H. G., Strandberg, R., Thorup, K., Kristensen, M. W., Jørgensen, P. S., Fox, J., Afanasyev, V., Rahbek, C., Alerstam, T. 2012 . The annual cycle of a trans-equatorial Eurasian–African passerine migrant: different spatio-temporal strategies for autumn and spring migration. Proc. R. Soc. B.
Tøttrup, A.P., Pedersen, L., Onrubia, A., Klaassen, R.H.G. and Thorup, K. 2017 . Migration of red-backed shrikes from the Iberian Peninsula: optimal or sub-optimal detour?. J Avian Biol 48: 149–154
Yosef, R., ISWG International Shrike Working Group, and D. A. Christie2020 . Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rebshr1.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA

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