Editing Shrike (section)

==Behaviour==
[[File:Shrike-provision pierced-lizard.jpeg|thumb|A lizard impaled on a thorn by a shrike for later consumption.]]
Male shrikes are known for their habit of catching insects and small [[vertebrate]]s and impaling them on [[Spine (botany)|thorns]], branches, the spikes on barbed-wire fences, or any available sharp point. These stores serve as a [[Cache (biology)|cache]] so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time.<ref name=EoB>{{cite book |editor=Forshaw, Joseph|author= Clancey, P.A.|year=1991|title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds|publisher= Merehurst Press|location=London|page= 180|isbn= 1-85391-186-0}}</ref> The primary function of conspicuously impaling prey on thorny vegetation is however thought to be for males to display their fitness and the quality of the territory held to prospective mates.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Golawski |first1=A. |last2=Mroz |first2=E. |last3=Golawska |first3=S. |date=2020 |title=The function of food storing in shrikes: the importance of larders for the condition of females and during inclement weather |journal=The European Zoological Journal |language=en |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=282–293 |doi=10.1080/24750263.2020.1769208 |issn=2475-0263|doi-access=free }}</ref> The impaling behaviour increases during the onset of the breeding season.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yosef |first1=Reuven |last2=Pinshow |first2=Berry |date=1989 |title=Cache Size in Shrikes Influences Female Mate Choice and Reproductive Success |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4087861 |journal=The Auk |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=418–421 |jstor=4087861 |issn=0004-8038}}</ref> Female shrikes have been known to impale prey, but primarily to assist in dismembering prey.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ash, J.S. |year=1970 |title=Observations on a decreasing population of Red-backed Shrikes |url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V63/V63_N05/V63_N05_P185_205_A031.pdf |journal=British Birds |volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=185=2–5 |access-date=2023-06-10 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629225328/https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V63/V63_N05/V63_N05_P185_205_A031.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> This behaviour may also serve secondarily as an adaptation to eating the toxic lubber grasshopper, ''[[Romalea microptera]]''. The bird waits 1–2 days for the toxins within the grasshopper to degrade before eating it.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Reuven |last1=Yosef |first2=Douglas W. |last2=Whitman |year=1992 |title=Predator exaptations and defensive adaptations in evolutionary balance: No defence is perfect |doi=10.1007/BF02270696 |volume=6 |issue=6 |journal=Evolutionary Ecology |pages=527–536|s2cid=23312866 }}</ref>

[[File:Occhiocotto predato.jpg|thumb|A [[Sardinian warbler]] impaled by a shrike in Italy; shrikes sometimes use man-made spikes, such as [[barbed wire]], in place of thorns.]]
[[Loggerhead shrike]]s kill vertebrates by using their beaks to grab or pierce the neck and violently shake their prey.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Diego |last1=Sustaita |first2=Margaret A. |last2=Rubega |first3=Susan M. |last3=Farabaugh |year=2018 |title=Come on baby, let's do the twist: the kinematics of killing in loggerhead shrikes |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2018.0321 |volume=14 |issue=9 |journal=Biology Letters|pmid=30185607 |pmc=6170751 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Shrikes are [[territory (animal)|territorial]], and these territories are defended from other pairs. In migratory species, a breeding territory is defended in the breeding grounds and a smaller feeding territory is established during migration and in the wintering grounds.<ref name = "HBW"/> Where several species of shrikes exist together, competition for territories can be intense.

Shrikes make regular use of exposed perch sites, where they adopt a conspicuous upright stance. These sites are used to watch for prey and to advertise their presence to rivals.

Shrikes vocally imitate their prey to lure them for capture.<ref name="Atkinson 1997 pp. 203–2062">{{cite journal |last=Atkinson |first=Eric C. |year=1997 |title=Singing for Your Supper: Acoustical Luring of Avian Prey by Northern Shrikes |journal=The Condor |publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=203–206 |doi=10.2307/1370239 |issn=0010-5422|doi-access=free |jstor=1370239 }}</ref> In 1575, this was noted by the English poet [[George Turberville]].<blockquote>She will stand at perch upon some tree or poste, and there make an exceedingly lamentable crye&nbsp;... All to make other fowles to thinke that she is very much distressed&nbsp;... whereupon the credulous sellie birds do flocke together at her call. If any happen to approach near her, she&nbsp;... ceazeth on them, and devoureth them (ungrateful subtill fowle).<ref name="Internet Archive 2023 c139">{{cite web |date=2023-03-25 |title=The booke of falconrie or hawking : for the onely delight and pleasure of all noblemen and gentlemen : collected out of the best authors, aswell Italians as Frenchmen, and some English practises withall concerning falconrie : Turberville, George, 1540?-1610? |url=https://archive.org/details/bookeoffalconrie00turb |website=Internet Archive |pages=73}}</ref></blockquote>

===Breeding===
Shrikes are generally [[monogamy in animals|monogamous]] breeders, although [[polygyny in animals|polygyny]] has been recorded in some species.<ref name = "HBW"/> Co-operative breeding, where younger birds help their parents raise the next generation of young, has been recorded in both species in the genera ''Eurocephalus'' and ''Corvinella'', as well as one species of ''Lanius''. Males attract females to their territory with well-stocked caches, which may include inedible but brightly coloured items. During courtship, the male performs a ritualised dance which includes actions that mimic the skewering of prey on thorns, and feeds the female. Shrikes make simple, cup-shaped nests from twigs and grasses, in bushes and the lower branches of trees.<ref name=EoB/>