Southern (Desert) Grey Shrike

Description:

The so-called Desert Grey Shrike is a subspecies of Southern (or Iberian) Gray Shrike, and is rather common bird in North-West Africa.

Habitat:

All subspecies of Southern Grey Shrike favors open country of various kinds, from semi-desert to farmland, and from health and bogs to partly forest tundra, with scattered trees, bushes or scrubs. It needs open areas with lots of lookout points. This subspecies, Desert Grey Shrike, is a common resident of north-western Africa.

Notes:

Southern Grey Shrikes perch on exposed and prominent high perch where it spends most of time. This perch allows it to search some prey on ground, among weeds. When it spots prey, it dashes aggressively to it. It may hunt in flight, pursuing small birds and killing them. Southern grey shrike also hunts scorpion, dancing around it while it is waiting for the good moment to peck its sting, and then, it eats its prey. Like all other shrikes, this species, share the habit of impaling their preys on thorn “larders”. In fact, shrikes impale preys on thorn because they are not able to hang on to their prey with claws, as a raptor. So, it impales the prey by the head on thorn, and it strips off pieces of the dead animal.