Birds of Silvermine #8: Southern Fiscal
The cache is the 3rd of an additional 5 bird-themed caches added (with kind approval) to ge0cath’s original set of 5 located along an adjacent trail to the south.
See GC9DNAD BoS #6 Cape Sugarbird for background details and useful waypoints.
The southern or common fiscal (shrike) (Lanius collaris) is found through most of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also sometimes named jackie hangman or butcher bird due to its habit of impaling its prey in a food store for later consumption (see below and here). The species name collaris is Latin for ‘of the neck’. Of the 5 subspecies L. c. collaris is the one found here.
It is a common black & white shrike usually of open country living in a wide range of habitats from grassland with fence posts for perching to acacia thornveld or even woodland, but avoids very dense habitats where its hunting would be impaired. It is also extremely common in man-made habitats such as gardens, parks, farmland and roadsides.
One of the reasons of its success is its varied diet and clever hunting techniques. It is usually solitary and often uses a sit and wait technique in which it hunts from a exposed, prominent perch, remaining almost motionless, scanning the area with its sharp eyes.
When it spots something, it glides to the ground and 
attempts to catch its prey. If the food item is small it usually eats it on the spot, but if it is larger it either eats it on its perch or impales the animal on a thorn or barbed wire. It often uses specific thorny tree or barbed wire fence as a ‘larder’, sometimes storing dozens of animals at one site. It eats a variety of prey, such as invertebrates, birds and their chicks and small rodents.
Territorial size is directly related to the density of hunting perches. Installing more artificial perches causes the fiscal to reduce its territory size and allow more birds in the affected range.
It is a monogamous, highly territorial solitary nester. Males defend their territory ferociously against other males, often grabbing their opponent with their claws and then pecking them repeatedly.
The female does most of the annual construction of the nest, usually placed in the fork of a thorny bush or small tree, which takes 2-5 days. It is a thickly walled cup made of twigs, flower heads, bark, grass, leafy herbs and moss, sometimes also including paper, rags, spider web, feathers and cocoons.
Usually 2-3 broods of 3-4 eggs are produced each breeding season which are incubated mainly by the female for 12-16 days.
The chicks are fed mainly by the mostly the female in the first week, after which the male gradually takes more responsibility. They stay in the nest for about 14-21 days and can feed for themselves about 3 weeks later. However, they only become independent after a few more weeks, leaving their parents territory at about 4 months old.
Its calls are a jumbled mix of shrike-like swizzling sounds (see/listen here) including some imitations and a harsh Dzzzttt-dzzzt-dzzzt alarm call (see/listen here). Most of its calls are either threatening or alarm calls but it sometimes produces a surprisingly sweet, quiet song, although, however sweet it sounds, it is either for territorial or pair-bonding purposes.
