Stock up early for Sunday’s lockdown, says shrikes

Drury Lane appears to haunt a vast pile of thorny bushes with a brown shriek axe with the persistence of the ghost. A pile of well-gathered, dry thorny branches are planted on a piece of vacant land that faces the tree-lined dam of Selaiyur Lake. The land is surrounded on one side – as well as on its back – by a coffin of tall bushes surrounded by trees. To locate prey from a vantage point of view, Shrike must find irresistible greenery. The pile of wood is high but not as tall as most of the bushes in the stand. Yet the migrant scream is drawn to a pile of wood dominated by axes prosopis juliflora Dominates the pile of wood.

Last week, whenever this writer visited the place, Shrike would be present. If it didn’t, it would pop up in a matter of minutes. It will sit quietly for long periods of time – with an air of self-importance, if one puts on anthropomorphic glasses – and occasionally proceeds to retrieve a worm from the patch of grass below. Brown shrews are highly territorial, even in their wintering grounds, choosing a niche with hardly any serious repercussions of other avians. However, it was rather interesting to make the pile of wood the focus of his attention.

The preference for a prickly wood pile seems to be aligned with a behavior that has sparked an unflattering comparison. They are known as butcher birds, just as butchers hang a slaughtered animal on a hook, imposing their prey. What could be a better hook than thorns in the wild?

It’s actually more attention-grabbing than how.

“Sometimes, after catching their prey, instead of eating it immediately, they would put it on a fork and keep it as a reserve supply,” explains ornithologist V Santharam. “It is not that thorn bushes always sit. They sit on the branches of bushes that are not thorny. But then they prefer thorn bushes because it is easier for them to store their extra food on thorns and eat them at a later date. ,

Perhaps, after all, the better air felt by the bird’s exile was not a figment of the anthropomorphic imagination. Shrike may just be stuck on the fact that it has the supplies to end many Sunday lockdowns, which despise humans, who fill provision shops on Saturday evenings to stock up on essentials .

Brown squeak on a pile of axed thorn bushes in Selaiyur. Photo: Prince Frederick

“A squeak may not always put food away for later retrieval and consumption. This behavior may be prevalent in some species and in some habitats where food may be scarce. When it feels hungry, it simply returns to space. In these parts, the brown shrek being a winter migrant, it must receive plentiful food and, therefore, is rarely a compelling reason to play butcher-cum-depositor.

Shantaram notes that as the long-tailed squeak and southern gray squeak are native to these parts, they can be seen in this behavior “during the dry season or when they have young to provide”.

Ornithologists say that these birds are largely insectivorous, but can also take lizards or toads.

When they impound larger prey, this behavior can unfold in bold relief compared to when it had to deal with smaller prey such as insects. Raptors are known for making great kills, breaking their size if not huge. The squeaks can come across as a display of a raptor’s ferocious power when they crucify their prey, especially large-sized prey.