In situations of restricted food supply, the trophic niches of closely-related species of animals should be separate. For sit-and-wait hunters, such as shrikes, this is associated with competition for food and hunting sites. In the present study, the foraging behaviour of two shrike species – Red-tailed Shrike Lanius phoenicuroides and Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio – was studied in a desert habitat in Oman. The fieldwork was carried out in September 2019, during the peak migration of these birds. Their behaviour was recorded in detail during 30-minute observation bouts. A General Linear Mixed Model with logit link function and binomial error variance was used to compare their behaviour. The type of perch and its height did not differ between them, but there were significant differences in their use of look-out posts only in the mean duration of a single perching event, which was more than twice as long in Red-backed Shrike. No differences in prey size were found between the species and hunting success (the ratio of successful attacks to all attacks) was similar in both (RtS-RbS: 46 vs. 61%). Dietary diversity was twice as great in Red-tailed Shrike as in Red-backed Shrike, but in general, their diets did not differ very much. Dietary overlap between the species at this level of prey identification was 92%. This absence of differences in some aspects of behaviour and diet may be due to the similarity of the two species, above all their same body size, and even the possibility of hybridization. If the species compared are so similar due to body size, behaviour and evolutionary relationship their food niches may overlap.

在粮食供应受到限制的情况下，密切相关的动物物种的营养位应该分开。对于静坐的猎人，例如shrikes，这与争夺食物和狩猎场有关。在本研究中，两种伯劳鸟的觅食行为-红尾伯劳Lanius phoenicuroides和红背伯劳Lanius collurio –在阿曼的一个沙漠栖息地进行了研究。野外调查于2019年9月进行，当时这些鸟类的迁徙高峰期。在30分钟的观察回合中详细记录了他们的行为。具有logit链接函数和二项式误差方差的通用线性混合模型用于比较其行为。它们之间的栖息地类型和高度没有差异，但是它们对监视哨所的使用只有在一次栖息事件的平均持续时间内存在显着差异，而在红背伯劳中则是两倍以上。在物种之间没有发现猎物大小的差异，并且狩猎成功率（成功攻击与所有攻击的比率）在两个物种中都相似（RtS-RbS：46 vs. 61％）。红尾伯劳的饮食多样性是红背伯劳的两倍，但总的来说，他们的饮食差别不大。在这种猎物识别水平上，物种之间的饮食重叠为92％。在行为和饮食某些方面没有差异可能是由于这两个物种的相似性，尤其是它们的相同体型，甚至是杂交的可能性。如果比较的物种由于体型，行为和进化关系如此相似，则它们的食物生态位可能重叠。