{"id":88131,"date":"2020-08-03T06:14:23","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T12:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=88131"},"modified":"2020-08-03T08:22:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T14:22:18","slug":"loggerhead-shrikes-spiders-and-great-salt-lake-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/03\/loggerhead-shrikes-spiders-and-great-salt-lake-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Loggerhead Shrikes, Spiders And Great Salt Lake Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"

And a memory jog from my friend Jaimi Butler.<\/p>\n

Five days ago I received a request from Jaimi Butler, Coordinator of the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College, to use some of my Loggerhead Shrike with spider images – particularly those where the adult shrikes are feeding spiders to their offspring. GSLI was involved in a long term research project studying the effects of mercury contaminants from industry as they move through the Great Salt Lake food chain, including the part of\u00a0 the chain that involves birds eating the abundant spiders on Antelope Island. They’re now creating a video on the subject for Antelope Island’s upcoming Spider Fest, thus Jami’s request to use my images which of course I allowed.<\/p>\n

I hadn’t even seen those photos for years so I went back in my files and reviewed a few of them. I believe it’s been eight years since I posted some of them to my blog so I decided to feature a few of them again in an effort to inspire more participation of locals in this year’s Spider Fest<\/a><\/span><\/span> (Covid Virtual Version) and to get more folks out to Antelope Island to enjoy the incredible explosion of spiders out there before they’re gone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This time of year shrikes and other birds eat a lot<\/em> of spiders on the island.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I’ve noticed that Shrikes are pretty careful about the way they handle spiders, usually grasping them by their head at least until they’re dead. They must instinctively understand the peril involved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here the adult on the left is about to feed a spider to one of its recently fledged offspring. Given the fondness of shrikes for cluttered habitats it’s difficult to get a clear shot of the feeding behavior.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another spider about to contribute to the shrike biomass of the island. This time of year near the Great Salt Lake spiders seem to be the primary prey of shrikes, which makes perfect sense given their abundance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So really, I encourage readers to visit Antelope Island this time of year if you can. Go in the early morning or in the evening when the light is at its best, the temperatures are cooler and birds and at least some other wildlife are most active. There’s lots of birds along the causeway just before you reach the island and spiders can be found everywhere in that area. When it’s this hot biting gnats aren’t a problem and the abundant brine flies don’t bite – they just contribute to the vast smorgasbord of the island. Pronghorn, bison and coyotes on the main part of the island are a mammalian bonus.<\/p>\n

And don’t forget to watch the gulls as they run through the thick clouds of brine flies with their mouths open until they’re so full they can’t swallow another fly.<\/p>\n

It’s really quite entertaining.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Addendum: Soon after I published this post this morning Jaimi made the following comment on Facebook which includes a link to the video they’re working on.<\/em><\/p>\n