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Lanius meridionalis
The Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) is closely related to the Great Grey Shrike and indeed was orginally treated as the same species. Shrikes impale preys on thorn because are not able to hang on to their prey with claws, as a raptor.
Probably subspecies “algeriensis” from North Africa shows black eye patch but lacks white supercilium, and it has grey breast.
Spotted on Oct 25, 2011
Submitted on Oct 29, 2011
3 Comments
Thanks for your comments Dungeonmaster and Alice!
My father told me the same about the toxic grasshoppers, something that he learned from the observation of the nature in his childhood.
Unfortunately, nowadays is hard to find shrikes in the place where my father was born.
Nice picture! Nice addition dungeonmaster
impaling insects also serves as an adaptation to eating the toxic grasshoppers where the bird waits for 1–2 days for the toxins within the grasshopper to degrade, and then eat it