Laniidae

Shrikes, family Laniidae, are passerine birds comprising 34 species in four genera. The family name comes from the Latin for butcher, a reference to the habit shrikes have of impaling insects and small vertebrates on thorns or barbed wire to build larders used for food storage, territorial display and attracting mates, which also earns them the name butcherbirds. Most species live in Eurasia and Africa, favoring open steppe and savanna, with only two species, the loggerhead and northern shrikes, breeding in North America; shrikes are absent from South America and Australia. They are medium-sized birds, typically 16 to 30 centimeters long, with hooked, raptor-like beaks and grey, brown or black-and-white plumage.