These songbirds violently fling and then impale their prey
The loggerhead shrike’s shake might be worse than its bite
By Susan Milius
Bite a mouse in the back of the neck and don’t let go. Now shake your head at a frenzied 11 turns per second, as if saying “No, no, no, no, no!”
You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), already considered one of North America’s more ghoulish songbirds for the way it impales its prey carcasses on thorns and barbed wire.
Once the shrike hoists its prey onto some prong, the bird will tug it downward “so it’s on there to stay,” says vertebrate biologist Diego Sustaita. He has witnessed a shrike, about the size of a mockingbird, steadying a skewered frog like a kabob for the grill. A bird might dig in right away, keep the meal for later or just let it sit around and demonstrate sex appeal (SN Online: 12/13/13).