Common name: Woodchat Shrike
Scientific name: Lanius senator
Family: Laniidae

Size:
Body length: approximately 18 cm
Wingspan: approximately 26 cm
Weight: approximately 30 g

Identification:
A medium-sized shrike with a strong hooked bill and striking black, white and chestnut plumage. Adult males have black upperparts, a prominent white shoulder patch, pure white underparts and a distinctive chestnut-red crown and nape. Females are generally duller and browner, while juveniles are mottled and finely barred in brown, buff and white.

Habitat:
Prefers scrub, open woodland, orchards, agricultural landscapes and open country with scattered trees and bushes. In the Levant it is often associated with dry Mediterranean habitats where elevated perches provide good hunting opportunities. In Lebanon it occurs from the coast up to around 1,800 m, including the edges of cedar forests.

Status in the Levant:
A breeding summer visitor and passage migrant across suitable parts of the Levant. In Lebanon it is described as a fairly common migrant breeder and common migrant, breeding mainly from late March to mid-July. Spring migration occurs mainly from early March to late May, while autumn passage is concentrated from early August to late September.

Diet:
Feeds mainly on large insects, including beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and other arthropods. It may also take small lizards and occasionally other small vertebrates.

Behavior:
A typical sit-and-wait hunter, spending long periods on exposed branches, wires or shrubs before dropping rapidly onto prey. Like other shrikes, it may impale captured prey on thorns or sharp branches, either to hold it while feeding or to store it for later.

Conservation Status:
Global: Least Concern (LC)
The 2026 Birds of Lebanon guide also lists the species as Least Concern (LC). Major threats identified in Lebanon include habitat loss and degradation, illegal hunting, climate change, disturbance and pesticides.