UK wintering: 62 birds
UK passage: 125 birds
Family: Shrikes
Great grey shrikes have pale grey upperparts with a bluish wash. The rump and uppertail coverts are grey but paler still. The upperwing is black with a white wing bar across the primary bases and a white patch on the secondary bases. The flight feathers and tertials have white tips, and the scapulars are white. The long, tail is black with outer white rectrices. The underparts are white. In fresh plumage there is sometimes a pink tinge on the breast.
The top of the head and nape are grey, the chin and throat are white and there is a narrow black mask that extends from the base of the bill, through the lores and eyes to the rear of the ear coverts. The stout, hooked bill is black, the eyes are dark brown, and the legs and feet are black or dark grey.
Male and female great grey shrikes look similar, but the male has stronger markings. The female is duller and may have some weak bars on the breast.
Juveniles are browner than adults with slight vermiculations on the upperparts and underparts. By autumn it looks like the female but still has some bars on the breast and flanks, and pale edges on the greater coverts.
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Great grey shrikes are monogamous and breed between March and May on grassland with scattered trees. The nest is placed in the fork of a tree or sometimes in dense bush. Both male and female build the nest which is a large, bulky cup-shaped structure made from twigs, roots, and grass, and lined with rootlets, feathers, and hair.
Great grey shrikes lay 6-7 smooth, glossy, white, pale green, or buff eggs with grey and brown spots and blotches, which are incubated for 15-17 days mainly by the female. The male will feed her while she is at the nest. Chicks are brooded by the female and fed by the male. They fledge 15-19 days after hatching but remain with their parents for a further 3 weeks and leave the nest site 4-7 weeks after hatching.
Great grey shrikes eat large insects, small vertebrates such as rodents, lizards, and frogs, and invertebrates including worms, snails, crustaceans, and spiders. They will also sometimes eat fruit and occasionally carrion. They hunt from high perches, dropping down onto prey, and killing it with the ‘tomial tooth’ located on each side the upper bill. Afterwards, they may impale the prey on thorns or barbed wire or tear it into pieces before eating it. During breeding season, the prey are impaled at the edge of territories and most is not eaten which would imply this is a signalling behaviour.
Great grey shrikes can be seen in the UK between September and April. They arrive on the east coast and scatter through southern England, and parts of northern England and Wales. Look out for them in open areas, sitting on fence posts and trees, on heathland, farmland, scrub, and coastal dunes.
The scientific name for the great grey shrike means ‘sentinel butcher’ referring to the bird’s most conspicuous behaviours – storing food, and using exposed, high vantage points to watch for prey.
