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Great Grey Shrike

Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike. Great grey shrikes feed on small birds, which they can catch in flight. They also eat mice, voles and shrews and, as spring approaches, they'll include bees and larger beetles in their diet. Shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns, just as a butcher hangs his meat on hooks.

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1 minute

Last on

Tue 28 Mar 2023 05:58

Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor)

Webpage image courtesy of David Tipling (rspb-images.com)

Recording sourced from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

This programme contains an audio recording of the Great Grey Shrike听which was kindly provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Source credit: ML130991: The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, recorded by Gerrit Vyn on 07 Jun 2006.

Broadcasts

  • Thu 10 Apr 2014 05:58
  • Thu 19 Mar 2015 05:58
  • Tue 1 Nov 2016 05:58
  • Thu 16 Jan 2020 05:58
  • Mon 26 Oct 2020 05:58
  • Tue 28 Mar 2023 05:58

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