The Singing Behaviour of the Long-Tailed Shrike (Lanius schach erythronotus)

Abstract

The singing behavior of the long-tailed shrike was described for the first time with one male as the example. Song recordings (total duration 44.2 min) obtained from this individual in southern Kazakhstan between May 24 and June 16, 2007, were analyzed. Call bouts (3–282 s long, median duration 52 s, n = 18) and song bouts (6–202 s long, median duration 67 s, n = 22) alternated in the male’s advertising vocalization. The bird’s repertoire included 13 types of calls. Each call bout included one or several call types. The song bouts consisted of song syllables, with 143 types of syllables identified in the male’s entire repertoire. Each song syllable belonged to one of eleven “themes,” with 3 to 33 (median 8) syllable types per “theme.” The male produced the syllables from a certain theme before eventually introducing a new theme during singing.