A pragmatic, sweet-voiced butcher and his canned goods (8 photos + 1 video)

The main antagonist of one detective thriller was called the shrike for his passion for creating creepy installations from the bodies of his victims. But what is the connection between a maniac and a modest gray bird that looks like a sparrow?





It turns out that it’s quite straight forward. Outwardly, this bird is all modesty and cuteness: thin legs, laconic plumage, expressive beady eyes. Meanwhile, this songbird, represented by nine species, is a real executioner in spirit. Even the Latin name of the genus - Lanius (butcher, executioner, sacrificer) confirms this.



The small bird loves protein foods. The basis of its diet consists of frogs, lizards and insects, but shrikes are not averse to diversifying the menu with rodents, fish and their own kind.

Nature did not endow the bird with powerful paws characteristic of predators. Therefore, shrikes usually sit in ambush, carefully watching potential prey. And then they rush at unsuspecting prey. A small butcher can hit a large beetle well on a branch. A vole can easily crush its head with its hooked beak, and small birds are grabbed by the legs in flight.





The rare ability to imitate the voices of other birds will not leave you hungry. The shrike has mastered this art masterfully. But the birds’ own song is quite bland, simple and uncomplicated.

The singing predator eats small prey immediately. And it stores large ones, arranging a kind of storage room on the branches. If rodents, lizards, or caterpillars impaled on thorns or sharp branches come into view, then this is not the last refuge of suicidal creatures. And canned shrike.



For the next meal, the bird flies to its secret dining room as needed. Sweet-voiced deceivers store their prey in the winter, when the amount of food is reduced, and during the breeding season, when the body needs additional energy. Tricksters calmly eat even normally poisonous prey - some species of butterflies and toads. After hanging on the thorns for several days, it becomes safe due to decomposed toxins.



The shrike calmly carries prey that weighs as much as the winged butcher itself. Teenage chicks practice on inanimate objects, carrying twigs and leaves in their beaks, and even chase their own parents. Fortunately, this species does not pose a threat to people. At least, not a single case of a shrike attacking a person has been recorded.