Brown Shrike

 The 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 (𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬) is a bird in the 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 that is 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 in 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚. It is 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 to the 𝐫𝐞𝐝-𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 and 𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞.

Like 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬, it has a 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 "𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭-𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤" 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 the 𝐞𝐲𝐞.This Shrike is 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 on the 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 and the 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 is 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝. The 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 can be 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫 in 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 and has a 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰 over it. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 is 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐲 with 𝐫𝐮𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 and 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲. The 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 are 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 and 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 any 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 "𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫" 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬. 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 tend to have 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 on the 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 and the 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 is 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 and 𝐧𝐨𝐭 as 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 as in the 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞.

It is 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 in 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐛 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬, where it 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 on the 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐬 of 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 in 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 of 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐲. 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 of this widespread species form 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 which 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝 in 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 and 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 to their 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 in 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚. They are sometimes found as 𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 in 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 and 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚.The predominant form 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 in 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 from 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐚 to 𝐒𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚 and 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 in 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚, 𝐌𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐦𝐚𝐫 and the 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐚.

They 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝 mainly on 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬, especially 𝐋𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚.Like other shrikes, they 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐲 on 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬. 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 and 𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 are also sometimes preyed upon.