A Few Recent Loggerhead Shrikes

There’s always a few Loggerhead Shrikes that winter-over on Antelope Island and I find them to be fascinating subjects.   Their approachability is very unpredictable but occasionally they’ll allow me to get close, especially when it’s very cold in the mornings or if they’re about to hack up a pellet.  These are images I was able to get in the last few weeks.

 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This bird was practicing its springtime melodic repertoire a few weeks early (image taken on 2/5/12).  It was a relatively warm, sunny morning and it was singing its little heart out (if you can call shrike calls “singing”).

 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

With their black masks these shrikes always remind me of little bandits and they have an attitude to go along with that perception.  They get their name from their unusually large head (loggerhead means “block head”).

 1/8000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

I like the soft, even light and the setting in this image even though the twigs in front of the bird may not be ideal for some.

 1/640, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 I’m including this shot just for fun.  I liked the fluffy, relaxed pose to go along with the yawn.

 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

These little “wannabe raptors” are fierce predators.   From my observations their diet on the island for most of the year consists largely of insects and spiders but they’re fully capable of killing and eating small birds and rodents.  And since “bugs” are essentially unavailable in the winter months it’s my suspicion that a large part of their winter diet is the voles that are so readily available on the island.  You can see the remnants of such a meal on the side of this birds bill.

 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

That suspicion was at least partially confirmed recently when I found this vole wedged in a tree branch that is regularly used by one of the shrikes.  I didn’t actually see the shrike with the vole but I’m quite confident that this is a shrike kill.   Shrikes don’t have strong feet or talons so they’re well-known for impaling or wedging prey on thorns or branches so they can tear the food item apart.  Their hooked bill with horny tomial projections (similar to those in falcons) is very efficient for that purpose.  One can readily see why these birds are sometimes called “butcher birds”.

Ron