Have you ever heard the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover?' Well this bird proves that looks can be deceiving. This cute little bird is a deadly predator. The loggerhead shrike eats birds, insects, small rodents, reptiles and amphibians. They do not have the strong feet and talons that raptors have so they have to use their beak to catch their prey. The strong beak is hooked down like a raptors, which is good for tearing flesh. They also have a notch in their beak similar to the tomial tooth that falcons poses. They use the notch to sever the spinal cord of their prey. Since their feet are not strong enough to hold down larger prey while they kill and eat it they will often impale their food on barbed wire ore small branches which holds it in place.
4 comments:
He is too cute to be such a vicious killer!
At least they don't eat people, right? He's quite handsome.
(Eco, could you do me a huge favor? Could you please visit my blog to help identify a raptor I shot this week? At points, MN & NH are more or less on the same latitude so I thought you might recognize it as something you've seen. Thanks. Cheryl)
Right, I've read that before about the impaling. I don't think I'd want to watch the process, however.
The shrike looks quite cute except that beak is a giveaway to the ripping and tearing process.
K
Lovely photo of one of my favorite birds.
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