In the mountains of Sierra de Guadarrama, Spain, I witnessed a wild and surreal scene: a tiny bird - a woodchat shrike (Lanius senator) - fearlessly dive-bombing a golden eagle, again and again.
It looked like a series of suicidal attacks… but there was likely a reason. The eagle had landed very close to what might have been the shrike’s nesting site.
The contrast was almost absurd: a small passerine confronting one of Europe’s most powerful raptors. And yet, the determination was unmistakable.
When it comes to protecting what matters, size means nothing.