Lanius schach (Lanius schach caniceps & Lanius schach tricolor)

Chincholi Wildlife Sanctuary & Chiang Mai, Thailand

This week I return again to the beautiful hills of Chiang Mai to talk about the Long-tailed Shrike. The Dois of northern Thailand have been very kind to me from a birding perspective. There are so many I have already talked about and so many still remaining. I have written an overview here on the Birds of the Dois and have now started to break them up into individuals like the Gray-backed Shrike.

About 685 kilometers to the north of Bangkok lies the former seat of the ancient Lanna Kingdom & is considered one of the most scenic provinces in the country given its mountain ranges, valleys, flora and fauna. A land of misty mountains and colourful hill tribes, a playground for seasoned travellers, and a delight for adventurers. Despite its relatively small size and blissful calm, Chiang Mai truly has it all, a city that is still firmly Thai in its atmosphere and attitude. It is the second-largest changwat (province) of Thailand. Bordered by Chiang Rai to the northeast, Lampang and Lamphun to the south, Tak to the southwest, Mae Hong Son to the west and the Shan State of Myanmar to the north. Located in a verdant valley on the banks of the Ping River, Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 as the capital of the ancient Lanna Kingdom. Today it is a place where past and the present seamlessly merge with modern buildings standing side by side with venerable temples. Of all the places I have visited in Thailand, Chiang Mai with its forests and mountains and the historic city of Ayutthaya are by far my favourites.

The word Chiang itself is from North Thai, or Lanna, meaning town or city and Mai means new making Chiang Mai the New City as it was founded later than Chiang Rai, the earlier capital of King Meng Rai. The districts in the province are called amphoe, and sub-districts are called tambon. Another twist is the use of Nakhon (or Nakorn or Nakhorn), derived from the Sanskrit word Nagara, also means city, though strictly speaking it refers to a capital city such as Nakorn Sri Ayutthaya (more on Ayutthaya later). Indeed to emphasise its former status you may sometimes see Chiang Mai referred to as Nakhon Ping. Other common names of geographical features include mae (river) and doi which is north Thai for mountain - for example Doi Inthanon and Mae Ping.

The four Dois we spent our time on were Doi Inthanon, Doi Ang Khang, Doi Luang and Doi SanJu.

Doi Luang & Doi SanJu in close proximity to the Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park, it is the second highest mountain in Thailand and a part of the Dan Lao Mountain range, northwest of Chiang Mai, sharing the border with Myanmar. Doi SanJu, can be easily accessed from Fang town. The mountain forest and no traffic make it easy to view birds. The entire area is very quiet, secluded and home to rare species like Mrs. Humes Pheasant, Long–tailed Sibia, Himalayan Cutia, Black–throated Tit, Black–eared Shrike Babbler, Whiskered Yuhina, Crimson–breasted Woodpecker, Fire–tailed Sunbird to name a few.

We didn’t have the good fortune to see all the species on all the mountains, that would have been impossible, but we did rack up quite a number of species - about 95 of them. The gallery today is of the pretty Long-tailed Shrike.

Read more about the birds of Thailand.

Chincholi Wildlife Sanctuary

The Chincholi Wildlife Sanctuary is the first dry land Wildlife Sanctuary in South India and was declared a sanctuary in 2011 extending over 134.88 km². This is the only area in the Hyderabad Karnataka Region with rich floral biodiversity. Apart from medicinal herbs and trees, species like the Red Sanders and Sandalwood are found abundantly. The Sanctuary has good dry deciduous and moist deciduous forest in the core with Acacia and Teak plantations on the fringes. Apart from the Chandrampally dam, four small dams exist at its Centre. The forest is also home to fauna like the Black Buck, Common Fox, Four-horned Antelope, Fruit bat, Hyena, Indian Wolf etc. Over 35 species of birds, including Black Drongo, Black-winged Kite, Blossom-headed Parakeet, Blue pigeon, Black-headed Oriole and Grey partridge are also found. Chincholi is also home to the Lambani Tandas, a protected tribal community that lives locally in the forests in harmony with nature.

I had the opportunity to work with the Forest Range officer stationed here at the time and was able to document almost 35 species of birds within a few hours.

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For a print of the beautiful birds from the Dois click on the button below to read my process and order a limited edition canvas.

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Long-tailed Shrike

The long-tailed shrike or rufous-backed shrike (Lanius schach) is a member of the bird family Laniidae, the shrikes. They are found widely distributed across Asia and there are variations in plumage across the range. The species ranges across much of Asia, both on the mainland and the eastern archipelagos. The eastern or Himalayan subspecies, L. s. tricolor, is sometimes called the black-headed shrike. Although there are considerable differences in plumage among the subspecies, they all have a long and narrow black tail, have a black mask and forehead, rufous rump and flanks and a small white patch on the shoulder. It is considered to form a superspecies with the Gray-backed Shrike (Lanius tephronotus) which breeds on the Tibetan Plateau.

The long-tailed shrike is a typical shrike, favouring dry open habitats and found perched prominently atop a bush or on a wire. The dark mask through the eye is broad and covers the forehead in most subspecies and the whole head is black in subspecies tricolor and nasutus. The tail is narrow and graduated with pale rufous on the outer feathers. Subspecies erythronotus has the grey of the mantle and upper back suffused with rufous while the southern Indian caniceps has pure grey. A small amount of white is present at the base of the primaries. The bay-backed shrike is smaller and more contrastingly patterned and has a more prominent white patch on the wing. The sexes are alike in plumage.

The species is found across Asia from Kazakhstan to New Guinea. It is found mainly in scrub and open habitats. Many of the temperate zone populations are migratory, moving south in winter while those in the tropics tend to be sedentary although they may make short distance movements. Subspecies caniceps of southern India is found in winter in the dry coastal zone of southern India. Subspecies tricolor migrates south to Bengal in India. They are found in scrub, grassland and open land under cultivation. A survey in southern India found them to be among the commonest wintering shrikes and found at a linear density along roadsides at about 0.58 per kilometer, often choosing wires to perch.

This species is a rare vagrant to western Europe on the strength of two accepted records in Great Britain on South Uist in November 2000 and the Netherlands near Den Helder in October 2011. A bird matching the features of caniceps was seen on the island of Maldives. It has also occurred as a vagrant to Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Hungary, Japan and Sweden.

This particular bird was photographed as we made our way down from the top of Doi Ton Phueng where we were waiting to document the beautiful Mountain Bamboo Partridge.

With that said I think it is time to move onto the gallery of this beautiful Shrike who favours dry open habitats and is usually found perched prominently atop a bush or on a wire.

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