Red-backed shrike

Adults weigh 28.44 g and have a wingspan of 26 cm. It raises one clutch per year with a clutch size of 5.5, eggs are incubated for 14 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 1 year.

Weight

28.4 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Wingspan

26 cmsrc for Wingspan

Lifespan

7.78 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Invertivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

10.1 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

woodlandsrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

14 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

5.5src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

12 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

1src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Perchingsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Migratorysrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The red-backed shrike is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderPasseriformes
5. familyLaniidae
6. genusLanius
7. SpeciesLanius collurio Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Collurio rufescens, Lanius collurio collurio, Lanius collurio kobylini, Lanius isabellina major, Lanius spinitorquus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Great grey shrike

Lanius excubitor

Laniidae

LC, Least Concern

Lesser grey shrike

Lanius minor

Laniidae

NT, Near Threatened

Woodchat shrike

Lanius senator

Laniidae

LC, Least Concern

Brown shrike

Lanius cristatus

Laniidae

LC, Least Concern

Isabelline shrike

Lanius isabellinus

Laniidae

LC, Least Concern

Long-tailed shrike

Lanius schach

Laniidae

CompareRed-backed shrike vs Great grey shrikeRed-backed shrike vs Lesser grey shrikeRed-backed shrike vs Woodchat shrikeRed-backed shrike vs Brown shrike

• 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).

@misc{red_backed_shrike_2026,
  title = {Red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-backed-shrike},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}