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Shrikes are famously known for impaling their prey on sharp projections but it’s a behavior that takes practice to do well and this young Loggerhead Shrike needed all the practice ‘he’ could get. Here the youngster is enjoying part of his dragonfly meal after struggling for some time to get the insect impaled on a sharp twig at lower left. It took considerable fumbling and bumbling before he got it to stay on the twig.<\/p>\n Dragonflies have two pairs of wings but only one of them can be seen attached to the impaled body of the insect. That’s because the other pair, and the head of the dragonfly, are in the process of being swallowed by the shrike.<\/p>\n I photograph shrikes often but this is a behavior I’ve only documented a few times because they typically impale their prey deep within thickets where they’re almost impossible to see, much less photograph. In this instance I was lucky to be close, so close that this photo is full frame (uncropped), so both bird and dragonfly can be seen reasonably well. Despite all the clutter.<\/p>\n This is the time of year that young shrikes are endlessly practicing their prey-impaling technique. If our current pattern of stormy weather ever clears out I’d like to get ‘out there’ and see if I can photograph the behavior again.<\/p>\n Good luck with that.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Impaling prey takes practice. Lots of it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/loggerhead-shrike-8865-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"loggerhead-shrike-8865-ron-dudley\\"")
1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n