Red-backed shrike

Present throughout Europe, Asia and most of the African continent, this migratory bird lives in Queyras from May to August. It prefers open environments and often lives in thorny bushes between 1m and 3m high. Waiting on a prominent perch, it spots its prey (insects, lizards and small birds) before swooping down on them. The red-backed shrike eats smaller prey immediately but impales bigger ones on the thorns of a hawthorn, a blackthorn or even on barb wire... These pantries are called ‘larders.’