Long-tailed shrike
Lanius schach Linnaeus, 1758
The long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach) is a species in the family Laniidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 33 g to 53.4 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Quick facts about the long-tailed shrike
- Weight
- 33 g – 53.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 14.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.5 – 4.25src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the long-tailed shrike
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.


Where does the long-tailed shrike live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The long-tailed shrike is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the long-tailed shrike?
The long-tailed shrike or rufous-backed shrike (Lanius schach) is a member of the bird family Laniidae, the shrikes. They are found widely distributed across Asia and there are variations in plumage across the range. The species ranges across much of Asia, both on the mainland and the eastern archipelagos. The eastern or Himalayan subspecies, L. s. tricolor, is sometimes called the black-headed shrike. Although there are considerable differences in plumage among the subspecies, they all have a long and narrow black tail, have a black mask and forehead, rufous rump and flanks and a small white patch on the shoulder. It is considered to form a superspecies with the grey-backed shrike (Lanius tephronotus) which breeds on the Tibetan Plateau.
From the Wikipedia article “Long-tailed shrike” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Long-tailed_shrike&oldid=1375736530), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the long-tailed shrike endangered?
The long-tailed shrike is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the long-tailed shrike classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyLaniidae
- genusLanius
- SpeciesLanius schach Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Lanius fuscatus, Lanius nigriceps yunnanensis, Lanius schach fuscatus, Lanius schach lingulacus
Other names and names in other languages (68)
- Rufous-backed shrikeEnglish
- صرد طويل الذنبArabic
- صرد طويل الذيلArabic
- صرد محمر الظهرArabic
- Дългоопашата сврачкаBulgarian
- Capsigrany cuallargCatalan
- escorxador cuallargCatalan
- Кужы пачан шапренгӹMari
- ťuhýk královskýCzech
- cigydd cynffonhir AsiaWelsh
- Langhalet TornskadeDanish
- Langhalet Tornskade Sorthovedet tornskadeDanish
- SchachwürgerGerman
- KönigswürgerGerman
- rufpuga lanioEsperanto
- Longvosta lanioEsperanto
- Alcaudón schachSpanish
- Alcaudón CabecinegroSpanish
- ruskselg-õgijaEstonian
- Antzandobi burubeltzBasque
- سنگ چشم دم درازPersian
- سنگچشم دمگاه حناییPersian
- ruskoperälepinkäinenFinnish
- Pie-grièche schachFrench
- Scréachán fadearrachIrish
- חנקן חלוד-גבHebrew
- dugorepi svračakCroatian
- hosszúfarkú gébicsHungarian
- Bentet kelabuIndonesian
- RánsvarriIcelandic
- Averla dorsorossiccioItalian
- Averla dalla coda lungaItalian
- タカサゴモズJapanese
- Manuk cendhetJavanese
- Кезқұйрық тағанақKazakh
- Ұзынқұйрық тағанақKazakh
- ಕಂದುಬೆನ್ನಿನ ಕಳಿಂಗKannada
- 긴꼬리때까치Korean
- ilgauodegė medšarkėLithuanian
- garastes čaksteLatvian
- ചാരക്കുട്ടൻ ഷ്രൈക്ക്Malayalam
- Алаг дунхайMongolian
- खाटिकMarathi
- तांबूस पाठीचा खाटिकMarathi
- Tirjup Ekor PanjangMalay
- RustgumpvarslerNorwegian Bokmål
- भद्राईNepali
- LangstaartklauwierDutch
- rustvarslerNorwegian
- Agache-écreuhèle schachPicard
- dzierzba zmiennaPolish
- picanço-schachPortuguese
- picanço-rabilongoPortuguese
- Длиннохвостый сорокопутRussian
- RuostaculpeskirriNorthern Sami
- strakoš dlhochvostýSlovak
- orientalski srakoperSlovenian
- дугорепи сврачакSerbian
- Crvenoleđi svračakSerbian
- ToédSundanese
- rostgumpad törnskataSwedish
- செம்முதுகு கீச்சான்Tamil
- นกอีเสือหัวดำThai
- Uzun Kuyruklu ÖrümcekkuşuTurkish
- сорокопуд довгохвостийUkrainian
- Bách thanh đuôi dàiVietnamese
- 棕背伯劳Chinese
- 棕背伯勞Chinese
Relatives of the long-tailed shrike
Other species in the same genus Lanius.

Red-backed shrike
Lanius collurio

Great grey shrike
Lanius excubitor

Lesser grey shrike
Lanius minor

Woodchat shrike
Lanius senator

Brown shrike
Lanius cristatus

Isabelline shrike
Lanius isabellinus
CompareLong-tailed shrike vs Red-backed shrikeLong-tailed shrike vs Great grey shrikeLong-tailed shrike vs Lesser grey shrikeLong-tailed shrike vs Woodchat shrike
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the long-tailed shrike?
An adult long-tailed shrike weighs 33 g – 53.4 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the long-tailed shrike live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the long-tailed shrike for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the long-tailed shrike endangered?
The long-tailed shrike is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the long-tailed shrike?
The long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach) belongs to the family Laniidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-shrike
“Long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-shrike.
@misc{long_tailed_shrike_2026,
title = {Long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-shrike},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}