Page 115 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

GREAT GREY SHRIKE 115

Swooping low, the shrike scans the ground for a midday meal. A small flock of sparrows are busy enjoying a dust bath –
Its keen eyes spot something interesting in the distance. oblivious to the danger that threatens them.

Before they can react, the shrike hits home, pinning one of the The hunting has been good recently, but rather than waste a
sparrows down as the rest of the flock scatter. tasty treat he impales it on a thorn to consume later.

happens next that has earned these handsome birds such a Once at their feeding site, it becomes clear why shrikes
gruesome nickname. are called butcher birds.They impale the bodies of their
dead victims on thorn bushes, like butchers hanging up
Butcher birds meat on a hook. In Europe, the spines of blackthorn (sloe)
Unlike large predatory birds, shrike don’t have talons.This bush are used, but barbed wire will do just as well.This
makes it difficult to carry prey, so they juggle it! The Irish may seem gory but, for the shrike, it’s a practical solution
ornithologist Francis Orpen Morris (1810-93) described to an everyday problem.As Morris observed, their feet
this in his 1891 book on British birds. Shrikes enjoy a aren’t strong enough to hold their prey. So, a spike secures
varied diet and are particularly fond of insects, such as the corpse while they pull it apart with their bill.
beetles, but, as Morris observed, they will also tackle ‘shrew Interestingly, it’s not instinctive behaviour, which means
and other mice, small birds, and occasionally even they must learn the technique by trial and error. Once
partridges, fieldfares, and … reptiles, such as lizards and they’ve mastered it, though, a much wider range of food is
frogs … but when carrying a mouse or a bird some at hand for their consumption, and they can store excess
distance, shrike shift it alternately from the bill to the food as well. Males even impale inedible items, to make
mouth, as an alleviation of the weight.’ themselves look like successful hunters to available females.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.