white-rumped shrike
- noun
- US
:
alcaudón de rabadilla blanca
- The white-rumped shrike is easy to recognize by the flash of white on its tail during flight.
Examples
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Birdwatchers in the region often hope to catch a glimpse of the elusive white-rumped shrike.
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A white-rumped shrike perched on the fence, scanning the field for insects.
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Look at that white-rumped shrike!
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The white-rumped shrike is known for its striking appearance.
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A white-rumped shrike perched on the fence, scanning the field for insects.
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Birdwatchers in the region often hope to catch a glimpse of the elusive white-rumped shrike.
-
The white-rumped shrike is easy to recognize by the flash of white on its tail during flight.
Synonyms
2
9.9
A small bird with a hooked bill that eats insects and small animals and often puts its food on thorns
A small grey and white bird that catches insects and small animals and often sticks them on thorns
Surface Forms
Morphology
white-rumped + shrike
The noun phrase denotes a shrike that has a white rump; the adjective 'white-rumped' is transparently built from 'white' + 'rump' (+ -ed) and 'shrike' names the bird, so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the parts. This adjective + noun composition is a regular, cross-linguistic descriptive pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily understand it.
Etymology
White-rumped shrike comes from the bird's appearance: it is a shrike with a bright white patch on its lower back, the rump, that flashes when it flies. So today the name simply points to the shrike with that white patch.