The Butcher Bird

OK, I've learned more about that bird in the picture yesterday.  It is a Northern Shrike.  These birds breed in Alaska and northern Canada and come down to Minnesota because it's warmer here.  Like the juncos, this is down south for them.  The bird was photographed about a mile from here as the crow flies, or maybe I should say as the shrike flies-just off Ramsey Boulevard near a large wetland.  The shrike gets it's name from combining it's attack style to what the prey say at the last minute (strike and shriek). Actually, I just made that up.  The Latin name is Lanius Excubitor which means butcher sentinel.  Rodents make up half of their diet.  Food is stashed in the fork of two branches or on a thorn or barb.  The shrike's feet are not useful in holding down the prey to tear off the meat and that is why they use thorns or barbed wire.  A friend of mine said he has seen bird legs stuck on a thorn before.  Oh, such an treacherous bird!  Just look at that black mask and evil eye.  Someone ought to write a book.  Here's a title for you - Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Blue Shrike.