Great Grey Shrike

About this species

This species has 797,950 occurrence records from 116 countries and territories (GBIF, 21 October 2026). Most records come from Sweden (35.4%), the Netherlands (12.1%), Denmark (7.2%), Norway (5.3%) and Spain (3.8%); together they account for 63.7% of the total. In Sweden, this species accounts for 0.28% of all bird records in GBIF.

The scientific name Lanius excubitor combines the genus name Lanius with the species epithet excubitor. The Warbla app catalog lists 30 species of the genus Lanius; apart from this one, those with the most GBIF records are Lanius ludovicianus, Lanius collurio and Lanius cristatus.

The catalog has GBIF record counts for 34 species of the family Laniidae. This species ranks 3rd among them; the family’s most-recorded species is Lanius ludovicianus. Its record count is 3.9 times the family average (206,182). The family Laniidae belongs to the order Passeriformes, which has 6,193 species in the Warbla app catalog.

More birds in the family Laniidae

• Red-backed Shrike
• Brown Shrike
• Long-tailed Shrike
• Common Fiscal
• Woodchat Shrike
• Bay-backed Shrike
• Bull-headed Shrike
• Masked Shrike
• Magpie Shrike

Credits & data sources

• Wikidata
• GBIF.org