Mike -- the shrike

I spy Mike when hunting for insects, and I immediately called Athena and Cawlin so that we'd all hear Mike out. I signaled Penelope and Philip to stay away since I've witnessed shrikes eating sparrows before and I did not want Mike to find an easy meal after our conversation. When you want to know what happened in a criminal investigation you listen and ask questions that don't bias the subject. A shrike is a very proud bird. So, it was easy to get him into an almost-one-sided conversation.

"I’m Mike a shrike a Lanidae
From the “butcher” family
Making use of thorns and barbs
For storing my protein and carbs
I’m a red-backed shrike
And that is my way
Using any kind of spike
To impale my prey"

Me: "Wow! That's an amazing feat! Do you work alone or in groups?

A group of us is called an abattoir
A slaughter house in other words
The name is certainly not bizarre
Given the character of us birds.

Cawlin: "Can you eat poisonous bugs as well?"

Mike:
"My Florida cousin a loggerhead shrike
In insect hearts, causes terror to strike
Even lubberhead grasshopper are not spared
They maybe poisonous but he is not scared
Impaled, and left to bake in the sun
Returning when the cooking is done
Poison rendered harmless by heat
He comes back to retrieve his treat.

Me: Do you train a lot before you master your skill?

Mike:
A Juvenile shrike will hone its skill
Before it is quite ready to kill
Impaled leaves you might see
On the branches of a tree"

Me: We want to reach India. I hear you fly to accross the globe every year. What route do you take?

Mike:
"Through Greece and Egypt to Africa I fly
I do not see how I can help but I will try.

Cawlin: can you give us any advice?

Plan stopping points for refueling
A must for a journey most grueling.

In the fall stopping in Eilat Israel
With insects a-plenty we eat well
We get fat so as to survive
Crossing the Sahara and Sinai.

Athena: How was Icarus trapped?

Mike:
A falcolner’s diabolical ploy
Is to use us as the decoy
Tied to a stick, shields stuck on our eyes
They wave us in the air
An unsuspecting falcoln then flies
Into a sail shaped snare.
If a shrike or falcoln dies
They wouldn’t even care.

I was trapped on the stick
When Icarus was captured
It was a dirty trick
I escaped from the bastard!"

Mike continued:
Me trapped on the stick
and Icarus caught in the snare
It was such a dirty trick
mais j'ai échappé au barbare
Switching to French to show
How well traveled I am
I am letting you know
what I say is no sham

Athena:
A Shrike is a wannabe falcoln
That does not have any talon
The thorns and barbs are what it's got
To take the place of talons it has not
Cawlin of course you are a polyglot
Who can also read underlying thought
While Mike is saying
He had escaped the captor
What he is conveying
Is for a wannabe raptor
To be used as game
For Icarus’s snaring.
Is such a shame
He is just rearing
to launch an all out attack
and help bring him back.

Me: Well... at least we know what happened. We are not taking the same route as Mike, though. I am crossing no desert. I like water and my own life too much.

Mike: If you want to rescue Icarus, you'd have to get to the desert. The idea is to meet by the port at the sea, and spend as little time in the desert as possible, and even then, we'd shelter from the strong sun.
Me: Where could Icarus be?
Mike: I don't know. Mother Cleverbrain told him to talk to crows along the way and to all birds and creatures he might meet. They would send word of his whereabouts.