📸 PhotoPhoto: Zeynel Cebeci · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Red-backed Shrike
Lanius collurio (Red-backed Shrike · セアカモズ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its weight of 28.5 g is about the weight of 3.7 Korean 500-won coins (7.7 g each) (Comparison).
- 💡 It has a "larder" habit of impaling caught prey on thorns or branches (RSPB).
- 💡 In the United Kingdom, it virtually disappeared as a breeding bird around 1989, and since 2004 only a very small number have bred almost every year (BTO).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Red-backed Shrike is a shrike slightly larger and slimmer than a sparrow, known for its habit of impaling caught prey on thorns.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The male has a bluish-gray head, a black mask-like eye stripe, a chestnut back, and a thick black hooked bill. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) describes it as slightly larger but slimmer than a House Sparrow.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Perching on bush tops, fence posts, or wires to scan for food, it catches prey such as large invertebrates and wedges them onto thorns or forked branches to create a "larder." In the United Kingdom, breeding birds have nearly disappeared due to changes in farming practices and habitat loss.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed as a recorded species in Korea under the name "Bulgeun-deung-ttaekkachi" (Korean name) in the National List of Species of Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2024) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22705001/264579697
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 264579697
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001936 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001936
- • wikidata.org — Q26671
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Lanius collurio - Red-backed shrike 09.jpg
- • bto.org — red-backed-shrike
- • rspb.org.uk — red-backed-shrike
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Zeynel Cebeci · CC BY 4.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.