Brown Shrike

The brown shrike is mainly brown on the upperparts, with a rounded tail. The black mask can be paler in winter and has a white brow above it. The underside is creamy with rufous flanks and belly, and the brown wings lack any white mirror patches. Females tend to show fine scalloping on the underside and a dark brown mask that is less well marked than the male's. This difference is not easy to use in the field, but breeding birds in Japan have been sexed by the female's brood patch. (Wikipedia, general species account)

The shrike family is found mainly in Asia, and shrikes are called butcher birds because of their feeding habits. The nominate form of the brown shrike breeds in northern Asia from Mongolia to Siberia and winters in South Asia, Myanmar and the Malay Peninsula. The race superciliosus, sometimes called the Japanese shrike, breeds on Sakhalin, the Kurils and Japan and winters in Hainan, Sumatra, Java and the Sundas. The species is closely related to the red-backed and isabelline shrikes. (Wikipedia, general species account)