What it eats: Mainly invertebrates, but also small vertebrates including reptiles, amphibians, bats and birds. Why it's awesome: The loggerhead shrike is nicknamed the "butcherbird" thanks to its ...

Like eagles and falcons, shrikes are birds of prey. However, they aren't raptors, but are songbirds. Though shrikes have a sharp, hooked beak, they are small and have weak legs. The little shrike ...

Bite a mouse in the back of the neck and don’t let go. Now shake your head at a frenzied 11 turns per second, as if saying “No, no, no, no, no!” You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike ...

Ten loggerhead shrikes hatched last month at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Va. These genetically valuable chicks will be the first SCBI-hatched shrikes to be ...

On my recent trip to Houston, I built in plenty of time to explore areas along the Gulf Coast and vicinity. Once outside of the sphere of Houston, one can get into wide-open, sparsely inhabited places ...

The sight startled us. A savannah sparrow hanging limp and lifeless from a sharp-pointed spike on a barbed-wire fence lining a farm field. Had it snagged its own neck on the spike? Not likely. More ...

Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad III, was prince of Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1477. Wallachia was a region of Europe that eventually become present-day Romania. A ferocious warrior, Vlad was ...

To us “civilized” mammals, some animal behavior can sometimes be construed as downright gruesome. There are behaviors that have been observed by animals in which even the most avid naturalist has been ...

If on a late afternoon walk across an open field you encounter a thorny honey locust tree with an impaled display of songbirds or field mice dangling in the wind — like macabre ornaments on some ...

The loggerhead shrike, also known as the "butcherbird," is a predatory songbird known for impaling its prey on sharp objects. Once common in Ohio, the species is now endangered in the state due to ...