shrike
/ʃraɪk/
noun
- A small to medium-sized bird with a hooked beak that catches insects, small birds, and mammals, and often impales its prey on thorns or barbed wire.
- The shrike is sometimes called a 'butcher bird' because of its habit of storing food on spikes.
- A shrike perched on a fence post, watching for movement in the grass.
- We spotted a shrike impaling a grasshopper on a thorn bush near the trail.