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Not directly related, but some other bird behaviors that I find fascinating:

Shrike (A.K.A. butcher birds) are predatory but since they are song birds they don't have talons to rip apart prey into manageable bites. Instead they impale their pray on thorns or barbed wire so that they can tear off bits with their beaks. They also use this to store food and have been known to use this to wait until the poison in certain insects degrades. During mating season, the number of carcasses that a male shrike has hung up is used to demonstrate its fitness to females.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpRcc5jvRmQ

Killdeer nest on the ground, so when a predator approaches the nest the mother attempts to lead them away by pretending to have a broken wing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJTt5I8K4Rk



Shrike birds always remind me of the Shrike from Hyperion [1]. I guess the real thing inspired the character's thorny exterior.

[1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hyperion+shrike&ia=images&iax=imag...


The thorny exterior, as well as the character's propensity for impaling its victims on the Tree of Thorns and letting them hang there for eternity.




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