Bird of the Month by Neil Stalter
ALL SONGBIRDS ARE GENTLE AND SWEET-SOUNDING, RIGHT?
THINK AGAIN . . . WHEN YOU SEE THE “BANDIT” OR “BUTCHER”
A tight black eye-mask leads to this bird’s branding as “The Bandit Bird.”
How it captures and devours its prey leads to its other nickname, “The Butcher Bird.”
With such fearsome monikers, you might expect to see a great hawk or owl or maybe a lurking vulture. Instead, we open the page to a Loggerhead Shrike. This songbird, at just 9” in length and trimmer than a Robin, does not act its part as a gentle passerine. This smaller of two shrikes in North America (the Northern Shrike only gets down to Pennsylvania) behaves more like a bird of prey.
We have been blessed in Grand Harbor to have the Loggerhead Shrike among our common year-round species. They can be spotted easily – often at the top of medium-high hardwood trees, perched and ready to make a dive at unwary insects. Just as often, residents of waterfront homes will see the Shrike on rooftops or atop fence posts. From there, they dive for lizards, frogs and even small mammals.
Beginning birders might be tempted to think they are sighting a Mockingbird. The coloring is right: a tidy mix of gray, white and black with white wing patches very visible in flight. But the Mockingbird is a trifle longer and thinner with a long bobbing tail and a non-stop repertoire of songs. The Loggerhead Shrike is stockier with a bit less white patch show as it flies. His sounds are more guttural and don’t amount to much more than rhythmic squeaks.
The major difference between these two species comes up close, as you see their beaks. The Mockingbird has a normal thin black bill, while the tough guy shrike has a hooked bill – all the better to capture prey. Both male and female hunt and both have hooked bills and, in fact, they are identical in appearance.
Back to hunting because this is where a Shrike earns its reputation. When he succeeds in grabbing prey, the Shrike will often eat only a portion. He then will impale the remainder over a fence barb or a tree thorn or branch crook, skewering the dead insect or lizard into a secure place. The Shrike will return to consume parts or all of the remaining carcass over a few days. Hence, the Butcher Bird.
Both sexes share the hunting as well as nesting duties. They build a cup-like nest of twigs and grasses usually about 10’ above the ground. They are also known to take over abandoned nests of crows or hawks. Their brood has 4-7 eggs and more than 50% survive to adulthood. Loggerhead Shrikes live their brave and lusty lives for up to about 14 years in the wild.
Rather common in Florida (with their number swelling in the winter as northern members arrive), Loggerhead Shrikes have seen their counts decline over past decades. That is due to loss of natural habitat – local forests and wooded rural areas – in both the Northeast and the Midwest.
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Loggerhead Shrike is one of 56 species illustrated and described in “Birds of Grand Harbor” pocket guide published by Grand Harbor Audubon. Copies available from Board Members.