---
title: "Lesser Grey Shrike"
description: "Lanius minor — Birds. The lesser grey shrike (Lanius minor) is a passerine bird in the shrike family Laniidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/lesser-grey-shrike
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Lesser Grey Shrike

> Lanius minor — Birds. The lesser grey shrike (Lanius minor) is a passerine bird in the shrike family Laniidae.

- Scientific name: *Lanius minor*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 4911
- Wikidata: [Q239393](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q239393)
- iNaturalist taxon: [12054](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/12054)

## Names

- en: Lesser Grey Shrike
- de: Schwarzstirnwürger
- es: Alcaudón chico
- fr: Pie-grièche à poitrine rose
- nl: Kleine klapekster
- pt: Picanço-de-mascarilha
- pl: Dzierzba czarnoczelna

## Countries with the most observations

RU (1271), UA (772), ZA (543), GE (286), RO (209), GR (183), TR (137), KZ (132), HU (129), AM (105), NA (103), IT (82)

## Summary

The lesser grey shrike (Lanius minor) is a passerine bird in the shrike family Laniidae. It breeds in South and Central Europe and western Asia and migrates to winter quarters in southern Africa in the early autumn, returning in spring. It is a scarce vagrant to western Europe, including Great Britain, usually as a spring or autumn erratic.
It is similar in appearance to the great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) and the Iberian grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis); both sexes are predominantly black, white and grey, and males have pink-flushed underparts. It is slightly smaller than the great grey shrike, and has a black…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_grey_shrike

## Photo

![Lesser Grey Shrike](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/lesser-grey-shrike/medium.jpg)

Photo: Liubov Ilminska · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/116666859

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/lesser-grey-shrike?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).