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Great Grey Shrike
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Great Grey Shrike
“Lanius Excubitor”
“The Butcher Bird”
This beautiful songbird hides a dreadful secret.It has sadistic tendencies.
It beats its victim to death with its inch long beak and skewers them on thorns.
It can’t grip its victims like a bird of prey so it uses a blackthorn to impale them to assist with the dismembering process.
This strikingly beautiful passerine is a long-tailed, thrush-sized, grey, black and white bird with distinctive black markings like a highwayman’s mask over their eyes.
and has an 11 cm tail.
It is around 22 to 26cm in length.
It has a wingspan of around 36cm.
It weighs in at between 56 and 80cm
With only around 100 visitors each winter it’s always a delight to see one.
But not if your a Robin or a Lizard!