The great grey shrike catches its prey and impales it on thorns or even barbed-wire fences; Bird then rips its prey, which can be a rodent, bird or insect, limb from limb - … I was just clearing the dishes from lunch for the Shetland Wildlife Group staying at our guest house. With the dashing good looks of a dandy highwayman and the mentality of Vlad the Impaler, the great grey shrike sports a black, bandit-style eye mask reminiscent of medieval executioners so as not to be recognised for committing one of the most dastardly deeds in Nature – the impaling of its prey on thorns to make a grizzly cache. T he Great Grey Shrike, Lanius excubitor, is a bird of prey with some rather nasty habits. 3. Killer Photos! Great Grey Shrike! The great grey shrike, nicknamed the 'Butcher Bird', swoops upon his prey and kills them before spiking them on thorns to save for future meals, as seen in … What lunchbreaks are for: Great Grey Shrike, Cabin Hill. Publish date: 24/04/2008. They breed in far northern North America and come as far south as the northern U.S. for winter. The great grey shrike catches its prey and impales it on thorns or even barbed-wire fences; Bird then rips its prey, which can be a rodent, bird or insect, limb from limb – often saving some for later On reflection, it’s strange how the attractive and dexterous great grey shrike has evolved into a figure of horror because it spears its prey to help it to eat, when the song thrush – another bird that sits in solitude at the top of a tree and sings its heart out, but batters snails to bits on a rock – gets away with blue murder. An identification controversy and an interesting item of bird behaviour.
New discoveries today included a Broad-billed Sandpiper at Potter Heigham, Norfolk, a Lesser Grey Shrike at Vidlin, Shetland, a Great Reed Warbler at Druridge Pools, Northumberland, single Blyth's Reed Warblers at The Naze, Essex, Portland, Dorset, Bornish, Western Isles and Scatness, Shetland and single Red-footed Falcons at Dungeness, Kent and Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset. The hunt for the Great Grey Shrike Having arranged with Kevin Hughes on our way back from Norfolk last week to look for the recently found Great Grey Shrike near Perthcelyn I set off from home bright and early and met up with Kevin in Ferndale at 7.45am and by the time we had driven over Llanwonno to the site it was 8.00am.We were greeted by a crisp but sunny morning and there were … The shrike can either pick its prey apart, bit by bit, or leave it for later. But this new research, which focused specifically on Loggerhead Shrikes, shows that the two have vastly different kill methods.
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Rodent kebab: Ruthless ‘butcher bird’ IMPALES its prey on thorns then eats it at its leisure.