Lesser Grey Shrike Lanius minor

Lesser Grey Shrike juvenile by Sasha Makhnina
Lesser Grey Shrike juvenile by Sasha Makhnina
Lesser Grey Shrike
Lesser Grey Shrike
Lesser Grey Shrike
The Lesser Grey Shrike looks similar to the Great and Southern Grey Shrikes but the black bandit mask extends to a black forehead. It breeds in southern and south-eastern Europe through to Central Asia and winters in southern Africa.
Lesser Grey Shrike juvenile by Sasha Makhnina
Lesser Grey Shrike juvenile by Sasha Makhnina
Lesser Grey Shrike juvenile by Sasha Makhnina
The juvenile Lesser Grey Shrike has yet to develop its black forehead with its adult plumage. The superb photos of the juvenile Lesser Grey on this page, including with its parent, were taken by Alexandra Makhnina in the Almaty Region of Kazakhstan.
Lesser Grey Shrike parent feeding young
Lesser Grey Shrike parent feeding young
Lesser Grey Shrike parent feeding young
Lesser Grey Shrike parent feeding young.
Baby Lesser Grey Shrike with insect
Rose Starling steals insect from baby Lesser Grey Shrike
Starling with insect
In this extraordinary sequence that Alexandra Makhnina calls "Broad Daylight Robbery" a shrike parent has just given an insect to its young; one of the Rose-coloured Starlings perched in the same tree flies in and steals the insect from the baby.