Shrike (Loggerhead)

A small gray, black, and white bird of open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike hardly appears to be a predator. The Loggerhead Shrike is a predator, but it does not have the strong feet and talons of a raptor.

Often referred to as a "Butcher Bird", it will stun or kill prey with its powerful, hooked beak that helps sever the spinal cord of its prey before impaling it on a plant thorn or barbed-wire fence. The impaled victim will then be picked apart over time, sometimes left there for months before being finished.

The prey typically consists of a small bird, mouse, or large insect. The birds sharply hooked beak makes-up for a lack of talons that birds of prey have to attack other birds. Loggerheads have exceptional eyesight and can spot a grasshopper from 70 yards away.

 

Photographed in the wild, Naples, FL