• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Climate Change maps
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Previously placed in monotypic genus Urolestes as U. melanoleucos (del Hoyo & Collar 2016) but Fuchs et al. (2019) found that the sister genera Corvinella and Urolestes are nested within Lanius and recommended their synonymisation with the latter. Race angolensis included in nominate by some authors (Dickinson & Christidis 2014), as (more rarely) is expressus. Four subspecies recognized.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2021. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	82 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	4,870,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	estimated	-
Generation length	3.64 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as uncommon to locally common (Harris and Franklin 2000). This population is estimated to be declining on the basis of local decreases in abundance and disappearances from some areas (Harris and Franklin 2000), perhaps owing to habitat degradation.

Trend justification: This population is estimated to be declining on the basis of local decreases in abundance and disappearances from some areas (Harris and Franklin 2000), perhaps owing to habitat degradation.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 1800 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Magpie Shrike Lanius melanoleucus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/magpie-shrike-lanius-melanoleucus on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.