Summary

This episode is 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.

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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.

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Links of Interest

• Red-backed Shrike courtship [VIDEO]

Research Citations

• Miocene diversification of an open-habitat predatorial passerine radiation, the shrikes (Aves: Passeriformes: Laniidae)
• Impaling in true shrikes (Laniidae): A behavioral and ontogenetic perspective
• Come on baby, let's do the twist: the kinematics of killing in loggerhead shrikes

Photos

Attributions

• Loggerhead Shrike sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC224812)
• Great Gray Shrike sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC781594)
• Red-backed Shrike sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC364540)
• Southern Fiscal sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC392534)
• Bull-headed Shrike sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC194693)
• Burmese Shrike sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC295747)
• Yellow-billed Shrike sounds (Xeno Canto recording XC444637)