Aims: The study of the diet and prey selection of the Southern grey shrike.
Location: Two shrubsteppes of South-eastern Spain.
Methods: The diet is determined by pellet analysis, and then compared with samples of prey availability
recorded by means of pitfall traps, on a monthly basis during an annual cycle.
Results: The Southern grey shrike consumes several beetle types, grasshoppers, and, during the breeding
period, lizards. Birds and small mammals are captured incidentally. It consistently rejects prey smaller
than 10 mm long, and prey are larger during the breeding period and summer. Compared with other
populations of Southern grey shrike and also with Northern grey shrike, the population studied here shows
a greater importance of lizards in the diet. Birds and mammals, which are progressively more frequent in
diet as latitude increases, both in breeding and wintering periods, are here at low frequency.
Conclusions: The diet of the Southern grey shrike in South Spain combines arthropods (mainly between
10 and 30 mm in length) and lizards. The changes in the taxonomic groups captured along an annual
cycle and their sizes suggest that, apart of the weak limits of prey size described, the Southern grey
shrike is quite opportunistic when feeding, and captures any prey of the adequate size available, regardless
of their taxonomy. This also corresponds with the changes in diet showed along the European continent
by both the Southern and the Northern grey shrike.
