Strangler crows

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Strangler crows
Flute bird (Gymnorhina tibicen)

Flute bird ( Gymnorhina tibicen )

Systematics
Subclass : New-jawed birds (Neognathae)
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Corvoidea
Family : Swallow Starlings (Artamidae)
Subfamily : Strangler crows
Scientific name
Cracticinae
Chenu & Des Murs , 1853

The strangler crows (Cracticinae), also known as flute birds , are a subfamily of the passerine birds (Passeriformes). The strongly built crow-like birds are common from Australia , Tasmania to New Guinea . Their closest relatives are the swallow starlings ( Artamus ), with whom they form the family Artamidae .

features

The plumage is usually black, white or gray in color. Their beaks are strong, with the crow's shrike the tip of the beak is curved like a hook. In some species there is a pronounced sexual dimorphism . Shrike crows grow to be 25 to 53 centimeters long.

nutrition

Strangler crows are omnivores and feed on insects , small land vertebrates , fruits or seeds. Crow shrike, which also feed on small mammals and birds, either clamp them in a fork of a branch or skewer them like shrike (Laniidae) in order to keep them for a while and to be able to split them up more easily.

Reproduction

Shrike crows build their nests of twigs, dry grass and small roots in forks of branches. They lay two to five, blue-green, gray-green, or brownish spotted eggs that are incubated for about twenty days. The young birds fledge after four weeks in the nest. Of the Australian species, the mangrove shrike ( Cracticus quoyi ) breeds from September to February. The main breeding season for the other Australian species is from August to December.

Genera and species

Black-throated crow's shrike ( Cracticus nigrogularis )
Gray-backed crow shrike ( Cracticus torquatus )

literature

  • Joseph del Hoyo, Andrew Elliot, David Christie (Eds.): Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes To Old World Sparrows. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009. ISBN 978-84-96553-50-7 .
  • Christopher Perrins: The Great Encyclopedia of Birds. Orbis-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-572-00810-7 .
  • Simpson &, Day: Field Guide to the Birds of Australia a Book of Identification. ISBN 0-7470-3023-5 .

Web links

Commons : Shrike Crows (Artamidae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files