A
n Arctic tern screeches. Its wings beat hard
as it hovers in the air. Suddenly, the bird dives at an intruder’s head, its red bill open. Peck! T e bird attacks. Its sharp bill draws blood. It’s not done fighting, though. T e bird dives again and again, screeching and pecking. T e tern isn’t the only bird with frightful
habits. Some owls hiss like snakes. Some songbirds steal other birds’ nests. One kind of thrush even sprays its droppings on predators. T ese birds may seem angry, but there’s
a reason for their behaviors. T e tern, for instance, is trying to protect its nest. It dives and pecks to drive predators away from its eggs and chicks. Other birds act fierce to defend themselves or to find food. For all of these birds, these aggressive
behavioral traits help them survive. T e behavior isn’t nice, but it works. Take a look.
The Sneak A tawny frogmouth stands upright and
perfectly still in a tree. T is bird is the size of a small owl, but it’s hard to see in the dark. Its feathers act as camouflage. T ey blend in with the bark, so the bird looks like part of the tree trunk. Unlike an owl, a frogmouth doesn’t always
chase its prey. It has another way to hunt. T e frogmouth opens its wide mouth and waits. Before long, a small lizard wanders across the tree trunk. It doesn’t see the frogmouth. So it keeps walking—right into the frogmouth’s open mouth! Within a fraction of a second, the bird’s
massive bill snaps shut. T e frogmouth swallows the lizard whole. T e lizard is the first meal of many for the frogmouth tonight. It uses its sneaky ways to find food and survive.
4 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER
A shrike sticks a mouse onto a thorny branch to eat later.
The Hoarder A black and white songbird sits high in a tree.
It chirps its song. T is shrike sounds nice enough, but its behavior is anything but nice. When the shrike spots a mouse, it dives
toward the ground. It grabs the mouse with its outstretched claws. Bird and mouse tumble across the ground in a death match. T e bird strikes the mouse with its sharp, hooked bill, over and over again until it’s dead. T e shrike doesn’t eat its prey right away,
though. Instead, it picks the dead mouse up in its bill and flies to a branch covered in sharp thorns. It shoves the mouse’s body onto a thorn and leaves it there. Soon, the shrike returns with a butterfly,
and then a lizard. It sticks them on thorns, too. T is may seem like odd behavior, yet it helps the shrike survive. Shrikes oſt en kill more prey than they can eat at one time. T ey store it so they have food for days when they can’t catch live prey.
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