TW: graphic descriptions of hunting
Shrikes are one of the most unique cases of a bird of prey. They are not raptors or hawks or eagles… they are songbirds. The fact they are classified as songbirds may seem odd because of their hooked beaks, which are very similar to birds of prey like raptors and hawks, but these beaks are actually a characteristic of convergent evolution. Shrikes mostly hunt other birds, small vertebrates, and insects. They are even given the nickname “butcher birds” because of their diet.
How can these little birds be able to kill small vertebrates like mice? Shrikes first paralyze mice by pinching their spinal cords with their beak. Then, they break the neck by shaking the mouse aggressively — they are able to generate up to 6 g’s of acceleration through this shaking. Even though the mouse is dead, this isn’t all that is in store for it.
Shrikes impale their dead (or sometimes still alive) prey with sharp objects like thorns, barbed wire, branches, and more. This may seem brutal but it serves a variety of purposes. One of the main purposes is to store their food for later. Additionally, some insects that they prey on are venomous, and waiting a few days gives time for this venom to break down; that is why they impale and then store these insects. Also, they use these sharp objects to tear their prey apart. They do not have talons like other birds of prey to tear apart their food, so that is why they have to use sharp objects. Finally, this stored food is known as “caches“, and male shrikes will display caches to attract female shrikes. How romantic!
This is so interesting because the shrikes are using tools for hunting! Other birds of prey use their talons, but since shrikes don’t have these, they have to use objects in their environment… tools! And not only are they able to use tools to hunt, but they have evolved to use tools to hunt. A lot of times I see people make a big deal out of crows using tools, which is SUPER cool, don’t get me wrong, but I think what is even cooler is that there is a bird that has evolved to instinctually know how to use tools. Plus, it isn’t even a large bird that evolved this but rather a songbird!
Shrikes, like so many other birds, are seeing declining populations (particularly Loggerhead Shrikes). Loggerhead Shrikes are now classified as near threatened, and in Pennsylvania they are classified as endangered. They have seen a 75% population decline since 1966, and this is only expected to get worse within the next 25 years if nothing changes. The worst part is that we don’t really understand why their population is declining so rapidly, but many experts point to pesticides, changes in land use from farming/nature to residential, and car strikes. Loggerhead shrikes are being banded to track populations so we can hopefully understand their declining populations better. You can go to banding events or report the numbers of banded birds that you find. You can also support efforts like reducing pesticides (check out my civic issues post on this).
I am completely clueless about most birds, but I am actually familiar with Shrikes from Hozier’s song “Shrike”. It is one of my favorites, and that has made shrikes one of my favorite little birds (other than hawks — a pair of them lives in North Campus and are my spirit animals). Your placement of your images is really strong, and the information interesting — my one suggestion is to add more paragraph breaks to break up the text a bit more. Good job!
Wow that’s brutal! Who would’ve thought the birds I hear on my balcony each morning are murderous predators lol. I really like the theme of the blog post and how the colors align with that of the Shrike. I can’t say I know a lot about birds, but I learned a lot from this post about the Shrike. My grandpa and I used to sit on his deck watching birds for hours at a time so I’ll definitely be looking to see a Shrike devour a prey in the near future. Great job!
Wow this is super interesting. I feel like it’s always shocking to us humans when other animals evolve to use tools and have anthropomorphic qualities–there are so many creatures that have high levels of intelligence that we tend to forget about. One question I had about this blog is whether the shrikes hunt together or not. They are these tiny songbirds, so is carrying thorns and lifting a mouse an easy feat for a single bird? I envision that it’s easier to divide and conquer when taking down larger prey, but maybe I’m also underestimating the strength of shrikes. I really liked the captions on this post too. Since I didn’t know anything about shrikes, I also didn’t know that they were native to this area. I’m not sure if they are common where I live in northern NJ, but it’s pretty sad that such an interesting and beautiful bird is endangered. I don’t hear much about protecting birds or efforts to protect birds, but it would be a shame if such a marvel of evolution were to go extinct.
This is a fascinating little bird, its not common to think of smaller bird species as apex predators, but this little guy certainly defies that logic. I was wondering if they have any issues with other birds (either shrikes or different species) taking advantage of the fact that they just leave their hard earned meals just sitting on branches. It seems to me that something like a crow would learn pretty quickly to look for “aging” shrike kills as a quick, low effort snack, and id imagine a shrike would have a hard time guarding multiple kills against a flock of larger birds. Is this something you’ve heard of occurring?
I actually haven’t heard of that although that probably does happen pretty often since they don’t have great defenses against bigger birds!
You are so cool for this. I am definitely returning to this blog to check out the various species of wildlife you have taken a deep dive into– I love that you also catalogue their behaviour, in addition to their physical appearance! These little guys are so clever, which is surprising for a bird of such small stature. I am certainly hooked. I love to draw animals as a cool-down at campus, and I will have to keep an eye out for these guys!
(Current Personal obsession: the clownfish at the HUB aquarium. )
When you first described a shrike being a “bird of prey” when it looks like a giant ball of fur that would never do harm, it really surprised me. Then as I continued reading, I realized that if I was a shrike’s prey, I’d be scared for my life. Between their beaks and environmental tactics to kill its prey, I can tell these things are not to be messed with. Very interesting post!