Bull-headed shrike
species of bird

The bull-headed shrike (Lanius bucephalus) is a passerine bird of eastern Asia belonging to the shrike family Laniidae.
It is 19–20 cm (approx. 7.48-7.9 inches) long. The male has a brown crown, white eyebrow and black mask. The back is grey-brown while the wings are dark with a white patch. The flanks are rufous and the rest of the underparts are whitish with fine barring. Females are similar but duller and browner with a brown mask and no white wing-patch. The species has harsh grating and chattering calls and will also mimic other birds.
It breeds in north-east China, Korea, Japan and far-eastern Russia (Ussuriland, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands). Northern birds migrate south for the winter with a few reaching southern China.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 29, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q804145. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bull-headed shrike” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.