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https://doi.org/10.4081/rio.2025.874

New record of Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) in extreme southern Algeria

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Published: 22 December 2025
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Red-backed Shrike, North Africa, Tin Zaouatine, Sahara, migration, accidental visitor, Laniidae

Authors

Belkacem Aimene Boulaouad
belkacemaimene.boulaouad@univ-bba.dz
Department of Agronomy, SNV-TU Faculty, Mohamed El Bachir El Ibrahimi Bordj Bou Arreridj University; Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa, Algeria.
Djamel Hadj Aissa
Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa, Algeria.
Karim Attouche
Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa, Algeria.
Mohamed Missoum
Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa, Algeria.
Khaled Ayyach
Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa, Algeria.
Bachir Harzallah
Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa, Algeria.
Mohamed Belkacem
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6151-0758
Algerian Wildlife Watchers Association, Djelfa; Laboratory of Biotechnologies and Protection of Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems, Faculty of Natural, Life and Earth Sciences, University of Bouira, Algeria.

In this work, we review past records of the Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio in Algeria. Furthermore, we report a new observation of the species made in November 2023 of a juvenile individual spotted in Tawandert in the extreme south of Algeria. The identification was based on the observed plumage characteristics, including a greyish-brown crown and nape, pale rufous back, and faint barring above and below, with the white primary patch already visible. This record, following one in Djanet in 1960 and another in Bou Hanifia in 1977, represents the third for this species in Algeria and the first sighting in over 50 years, as well as the first documented occurrence in the southern Sahara region of the country of a species that normally follows an easterly route during post-breeding migration.

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New record of Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) in extreme southern Algeria. (2025). Rivista Italiana Di Ornitologia. https://doi.org/10.4081/rio.2025.874
Copyright (c) 2025 Belkacem Aimene Boulaouad, Djamel Hadj Aissa, Karim Attouche, Mohamed Missoum, Khaled Ayyach, Bachir Harzallah, Mohamed Belkacem Creative Commons License

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