Chinese Grey Shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike (Lanius sphenocercus) is a large pale-grey shrike with a black facial mask, black wings marked white and a long black-and-white tail. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It inhabits temperate open woodland and scrub in eastern Asia, watching from prominent perches for insects, birds and small mammals and storing prey when food is abundant. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).