The loggerhead shrike is a small, rather innocuous bird occupying the open areas of the high plains. Despite its demure appearance, the loggerhead shrike is a vicious killing machine! It uses anything spiky – barbed wire, thorns on plants, shrubs or trees, – to impale freshly killed insects, lizards, snakes, and even small mammals and other birds. It then takes its time devouring them. Wandering around the ranch, you can occasionally see impaled insects on barbed wire fence, and you know a loggerhead shrike has been around recently!
Neat video of a loggerhead shrike eating an impaled snake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfHxylSQT2Q
