The Butcher

This is a Shrike. My father and I could not decide whether it was a Norther Shrike or a Loggerhead Shrike (the yearly migrations unfortunately blur at this time of year). Very rare here in Alberta, definitely not something I expected to see in my backyard.

A little more research revealed some interesting information about this bird. It looked soft and fluffy, and I figured it would behave in a similar manner... this is not the case.

They are called the "butcher bird", due to their habit of keeping corpses around.

They lack the sharp talons and strong beaks of their raptor brethren. After chasing their prey to exhaustion and stunning it with a hit, the Shrike then takes the insect/lizard/rodent/bird and impales it on a nearby barbed-wire fence or thorny bush. Not only does this fence or bush serve as a handy killing tool, but it also works as a handy skewer from which the Shrike may eat.

That is a crazy bird...


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