What’s That Bird?: Loggerhead Shrike

Summary: A three-minute podcast from the hosts of The Feathered Desert about individual bird species found in the desert Southwest.

 

For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.

 

Show Notes: Song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, recorded by Paul Marvin.

Our New email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com

 

Transcript

Host voice - Welcome to the Feathered Desert’s What’s That Bird? A three-minute glimpse into the birds that we share this amazing desert landscape with.

 

Kiersten - The Loggerhead Shrike is a medium sized bird ranging from 5 to 9 inches in length. It’s a strikingly colored bird with a color bock pattern of white, black, and gray. The underbelly from chin to tail is a bright white to pale gray, a black mask covers the face from the heavy, slightly hooked beak to just behind the eye. The top of the head down the back is a darker gray with black wings and white wing patches. A long blacktail helps balance the bird in flight.

 

            The loggerhead Shrike is found in AZ year round but is a rare bird to see. It is the only shrike found in North America and nowhere else.

 

            This is an unusual songbird because its diet consists mainly of meat including amphibians, insects, lizards, small mammals, and small birds. Because of its carnivorous tendencies this bird is nicknamed the butcherbird. Its heavy, slightly hooked beak is the main tool for dispatching its prey. They are ambush predators, sitting on a high perch such as a telephone wire and waiting for prey to come their way. Once they have spotted their target they swoop down and strike hard with the beak and sever the neck of their prey. They have be known to take prey larger then themselves including venomous snakes such as the water adder. To eat larger food sources the loggerhead shrike has developed a curious behavior of impaling prey items on barbed wire or cactus spines.  This helps anchor it making dismemberment easier. They may also use the wire or spine as a larder to keep food for a later date.

 

            If you hear this call (Loggerhead Shrike call plays) look up and you may see this striking predator high above you.

 

            Before the 1960s the Loggerhead Shrike was plentiful across S Canada, the lower 48 states of the US, and Mexico, but its numbers have declined rapidly since then. Loss of habitat seems to be the number one reason. This shrike needs high perches and wide-open spaces for hunting. When nesting they like red cedar and Hawthorne trees. Pines and thorns of these specific trees help protect and hid nests.

 

Decreased survival during winter and collisions with cars is another contributing factor in their decline. In Maryland and Virginia they are listed as endangered. Florida is the only region they are still fond in abundance.

 

            Bird song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology recorded by Paul Marvin.