Shrikes

This is Episode 75. It’s all about shrikes—birds in the family Laniidae.

These are true songbirds—members of the avian suborder Passeri within the order Passeriformes—even though they act (and sort of look like) tiny falcons or hawks.

Shrikes are sit and wait predators. They typically sit upright on an exposed, conspicuous perch and then wait for something tasty to come along. Some small animal, like a Vesper Sparrow, a rodent, lizard, grasshopper, and so on.

Shrikes are such cool birds that they have many fans among ornithologists. In fact, there’s a subdiscipline of ornithology called shrikeology. For real. And those who study these fascinating birds are known as shrikeologists.

So for today, at least, let’s all be honorary shrikeologists. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty details of shrike biology.

Errors and Updates

• I said that Germans call the Great Gray Shrike "Nine Murder." Several of my German listeners emailed and kindly corrected me. The species they call Nine Murder is the Red-backed Shrike.

Links of Interest

• Red-backed Shrike courtship [VIDEO]
  
  

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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