Lanius senator
(Woodchat shrike - Averla capirossa)

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Passeriformes
• Family: Laniidae
• Genus: Lanius

The male woodchat shrike is a striking bird with black and white plumage and a chestnut crown. The race Lanius senator badius of the western Mediterranean lacks the large white wing patches. In the female and young birds the upperparts are brown and vermiculated. Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.

This migratory medium-sized passerine eats large insects, small birds, voles and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a "larder".

The Woodchat breeds in southern Europe, the Middle East and northwest Africa, and winters in tropical Africa. It breeds in open cultivated country, preferably with orchard trees and some bare or sandy ground. This species often overshoots its breeding range on spring migration, and is a rare visitor to Great Britain.

Sources:

• Text - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrike and its links
• Photo - Loris Dilena & Giuseppe Turzi Istria - Cherso - Lussino - Veglia, guida naturalistica, Sergio Schiberna (Trieste, 1997). All rights reserved.
• http://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/passeriformes/pie-grieche.a.tete.rousse.html