Loggerhead Shrike - Summertime on the Shoreline
A bird a day keeps the chaos away
Loggerhead Shrike
LOGSHR
Lanius ludovicianus
ORDER: Passeriformes
FAMILY: Laniidae
Southwest Florida Coast, summer birds edition
Black-masked bandit of open areas with some bushes and trees. Bold black, white, and gray pattern is distinctive; also note stout hooked bill. Usually seen singly or in pairs, often perched conspicuously on a treetop or utility wire. Fairly widespread in southern and western North America, but never abundant, and declining over much of range. Carnivorous habits make shrikes unique among passerines; they feed on rodents and small birds. Undulating flight; watch for white patches in the wings. May overlap with Northern Shrike in winter; Loggerhead is slightly smaller, darker, and lacks white around the eye.
For more information about identifying birds, we suggest the following websites:
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
If you enjoyed this post, would you kindly HEART, RESTACK or SUBSCRIBE? Interaction with our posts helps boost the algorithm so we’re more visible. Your support allows us to show more beauty to the world through the love of birds.
The daily Birdstack will always be free. If you would like to support us in a small way, a good oat milk latte goes a long way toward warming this editor’s heart. We see your pledges and they always bring joy, but monetization was never an intended goal - it was always to share our stockpile of photography with you. Otherwise, hours and hours of field work and grubbing around to get the perfect shot would be trapped in our hard drives. That seems a waste, eh?