2012 Year of the Shrikes in the Netherlands

This video is called Red-backed Shrike “Lanius collurio”, Burön, Ångermanland, Sweden.

Translated from the Dutch ornithologists of SOVON, 8 September 2011:

2012, Year of the Shrikes

In The Year of … we always focus on a certain bird species. In 2012 the Red-backed Shrike and Great Grey Shrike will be those species.

Do we really need that, as these species are already closely monitored? Yes, but with an additional effort there is still much to be won. Thus, the Red-backed Shrike is reconquering the Netherlands. Something which goes largely unnoticed because the species is difficult to spot. If observers will look at even more places in a focused way, they will be able to define and explain the recovery process better, and site managers will be able to get customized advice to help this ambassador of nature restoration. The same applies to the Great Grey Shrike, which has disappeared as a [Dutch] breeding bird but which is probably slightly increasing as a hibernating species. Is there a connection here with landscape management (grazing) or not?

SOVON, BirdLife in the Netherlands, the Bargerveen Foundation, and Waarneming.nl join forces for this year.

December 2011: Dutch red-backed shrike update: here.

September 2011: Red-backed shrikes, once extinct in the UK, bred again on Dartmoor this summer, the second successive year of breeding in Devon: here.