Woodchat Shrike/Alcaudon Comun

Laguna De La Mata, Torrevieja, España (2012).
The male is a striking bird with black and white plumage and a chestnut crown. In the female and young birds the upperparts are brown and vermiculated. Underparts are buff and also vermiculated.
Habitat:
The Woodchat breeds in southern Europe, the Middle East and northwest Africa, and winters in tropical Africa. It breeds in open cultivated country, preferably with orchard trees and some bare or sandy ground. This migratory medium-sized passerine eats large insects, small birds and small amphibians. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a "larder".