The red-backed shrike is a typical migratory bird
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A species in sharp decline throughout its range in the EU.
Threatened by habitat change and loss, as well as the use of insecticides. This bird has the distinctive habit of impaling its prey.
Its diet consists of beetles and other insects, as well as small birds and lizards. It can chase insects in zigzagging flight, but it spots most of its prey on the ground and captures it after a long dive from a perch.
She then carries the small insects on her back to swallow them and impales her larger catches on long thorns from blackthorn, hawthorn, or barbed wire. In this way, she creates a “pantry” on these “feeding posts” and can more easily tear apart tough or large prey.
The male rarely defends his territory with his song. However, his vocal range is nonetheless very extensive, and he is a master at imitating the calls of many other birds. Nesting: His nest is usually located slightly above the ground, at a height of no more than one to three meters, and often in thorny bushes.
The red-backed shrike raises only one brood per year.