---
title: "Great Gray Shrike"
description: "Lanius excubitor — Uccelli. The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae)."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/great-gray-shrike
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Great Gray Shrike

> Lanius excubitor — Uccelli. The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae).

- Scientific name: *Lanius excubitor*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 17594
- Wikidata: [Q184508](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184508)
- iNaturalist taxon: [559070](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/559070)

## Names

- en: Great Gray Shrike
- de: Raubwürger
- es: Alcaudón Norteño
- fr: Pie-grièche grise
- nl: Klapekster
- pt: Picanço-real-nortenho
- pl: Srokosz

## Countries with the most observations

RU (7454), ES (1234), DZ (673), DE (648), UA (566), IT (554), MA (503), IN (417), PL (362), IL (282), AT (266), RO (263)

## Summary

The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) 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 (L. meridionalis), the Chinese grey shrike (L. sphenocerus) and the American loggerhead shrike (L. ludovicianus). Males and females are similar in plumage, pearly grey above with a black eye-mask and white underparts.
Breeding takes place generally north of 50° northern latitude in northern Europe and Asia. Most populations migrate south in winter to temperate regions. The great grey shrike is carnivorous, with rodents…

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

## Photo

![Great Gray Shrike](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/great-gray-shrike/medium.jpg)

Photo: Лариса Артемьева · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73745352

## Machine access

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