Great Gray Shrike
Lanius excubitor

The great grey shrike is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae). It forms a superspecies with its parapatric southern relatives, the Iberian grey shrike, the Chinese grey shrike and the American loggerhead shrike. Males and females are similar in plumage, pearly grey above with a black eye-mask and white underparts. Source
Where it is now
In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 1,588 times across 24 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).
See the Great Gray Shrike on the live map
Arrival dates
The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.
| Region | First arrival | Last arrival | Typical peak | Areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 6 April 2026 | 6 April 2026 | 25 May 2026 | 1 |
Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.