The brutal method Loggerhead Shrike uses to kill its prey.

Image Credit: Dick Daniels(http://theworldbirds.org/)

The loggerhead shrike(Lanius ludovicianus) is a 20-23 cm long passerine or songbird in the family Laniidae. It also goes by the name of butcherbird. The adults have grey plumage with a white to pale grey breast and black feet. It weighs around 45-60 grams.

What Do Loggerhead Shrikes Eat?

Loggerhead shrikes mainly eat insects but they also consume arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, bats, smaller birds and even poisonous snakes. They often hunt prey bigger than them. Although they are carnivorous birds, they are not true birds of prey as they lack the large and strong talons like true birds of prey.

Predatory Behaviour and Brutal Ways of Killing

An image of shrike showing the hooked tip of the beak and the tomial projection just behind it.

Image Credit: besgroup.org

The loggerhead shrike lacks large and strong talons but it compensates for it by possessing a strong neck, hooked beak, tomial projections on the rhamphotheca(the outer covering of a bird's beak made up of keratin) and brutal ways of killing, The hooked beak and tomial projections are used for delivering bites on the neck of the prey. However, the biting itself is not enough for killing the prey. So, what the loggerhead shrike does is it vigorously shakes its head with the prey captured in its beak. This vigorous shaking of the head can exert a force of up to 6gs on the prey which causes fatal damage to the cervical vertebrae and spinal cord.

See a slow-motion video of a shrike using the "head shaking" technique to kill a mouse here.

An image showing a mouse impaled by the shrike.

Image Credit: kanecountyconnects

A red-shank grasshopper impaled by a shrike.

Image Credit: Audubon

The butcherbird uses one more method to kill its prey which is way more brutal. It involves the butcherbird impaling on a sharp projection such as a thorn or barbed wire.

REFERENCES:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loggerhead_shrike

* https://www.science.org/content/article/slow-motion-video-reveals-killer-whiplash-butcherbirds-use-take-down-prey-twice-their

* https://www.audubon.org/news/this-stunning-photo-project-showcases-loggerhead-shrikes-gory-deeds