Shrike Strikes

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

This morning as my daughter and I were watching birds at our feeder, I saw a Loggerhead Shrike crouched on the bird bath (likely ducking the gale force winds). In a moment it flew 5 feet and struck a House Sparrow.  As it dispatched its prey, daughter grabbed her camera and got a few quick shots. Predator prey in action. Sometimes hard to watch but essential part of a system.  Something we had never seen before!

John Rawinski

Monte Vista, CO

[Diana Beatty]

That's amazing!  At Dave Leatherman's Shrike talk at the convention, he mentioned he'd only seen one take prey once, I think - they seem to want to be secretive about it, usually.

Diana Beatty

El Paso County

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“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

[davecp...@gmail.com]

I just had a similar experience to see a Loggerhead Shrike catch a White-lined Sphinx moth and proceed to impale it, remove wings and perch proudly beside.  This was on a Birding and Beers Meetup near Kit Carson, CO. See Flickr album for some photos of my experience.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/28923849@N03/sets/72177720316749946/

Dave Prentice

Denver, CO

[Deborah Carstensen]

For me, it was a grasshopper, caught by a loggerhead strike at Crow Valley. Impaled perfectly.

Deb Carstensen, Arapahoe county 

Sent from my iPhone

On May 7, 2024, at 4:51 PM, davecp...@gmail.com <davecp...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Steve Brown]

Several Novembers ago I had a Northern Shrike first-year bird in my backyard in NW Colorado Springs. It sat on my fence looking around for a long time (and I got several good pictures) when it suddenly dove under my deck, came out with a junco in its beak, and flew off. That was pretty cool!

Steve Brown
Colo Spgs
(Mountain Shadows neighborhood)

[Ira Sanders]

Years ago I had a similar experience as Steve when a Northern Shrike came to my yard.  He sat in a tree and dove under my deck and came out with a mouse.  2x.

Ira Sanders

Golden, CO

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Ira Sanders

Golden, CO

"My mind is a raging torrent flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."

[Norm Lewis]

Interesting how many instances of shrike predation everyone has seen.  It's sort of like the yard checklist; when we start looking, all sorts of stuff comes out of the woodwork.  Several winters ago I had a northern shrike that returned to the yard three years in a row.  On one of those occasions, I also had a (for me) rare flock of rosy-finches.  The shrike killed a rosy-finch and stashed the body in a lilac.  I would rather have seen a different prey item, but nature is what nature is: red in tooth and claw.

Norm Lewis

Lakewood

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[mvjo...@gmail.com]

Yes others noted the stashing of the prey. This bird could not lift the house sparrow. But it tugged like crazy against a chicken wire fence protecting a shrub. Finally, it went around it and hid the prey in a greasewood shrub. Nice to know others have witnessed this phenomenon. 

John Rawinski

Monte Vista, CO

[Mary Kay Waddington]

OK, I have to share my favorite Shrike story as well.  I was cross-country skiing and following the tracks of a mouse in the snow.  Suddenly the tracks ended with wing-prints over where they disappeared.  About 15' further on there was a barbed wire fence with a mouse skin impaled.  The body was gone, and it had also been de-gutted, since that part was on the ground.  This Shrike evidently only wanted the meat, scorning guts and skin.

Mary Kay Waddington

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[Brendan Beers]

Adding to the list of stories, also a yard bird:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S77429717

Brendan Beers

Fort Collins

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[Jared Del Rosso]

A few years ago, I spent some time watching a Northern Shrike at Willow Spring Open Space in Centennial. (I posted a bit about it here, and the links that follow go back to some old posts.) I observed it hunting insect larvae; Dave Leatherman suggested it was likely an Army Cutworm Caterpillar. I also saw it fetch a small rodent - a mouse or vole. Often, the shrike would disappear with the food into nearby but inaccessible thickets (at least inaccessible to me), so I could never tell if the shrike was eating or caching food. I never saw the shrike hunt birds, though American Tree Sparrows that year were numerous.

The shrike was incredibly patient (at least more patient than me), remaining perched for painfully long times (at least for me). Often, it would preen as it also seemed to keep an eye on the sky (for hawks) and the ground (for prey). 

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

[Chip Clouse]

CObirders,

My fun shrike story starts with leading a field trip to South Padre Island at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival about a decade ago. At the SPI Convention Center, we found a Swainson's Warbler, rare most anytime but definitely in Nov, and called back to festival HQ in Harlingen to let them know so they could spread the word.

I radioed the other half of our group, led by Louise Zemaitis and Michael O'Brien, that we had a Swainson's Warbler and they quickly came over with their group. While we were watching the warbler, a Loggerhead Shrike swooped in, grabbed the Warbler and quickly decapitated it. We had to call back to festival HQ with a reluctant, "Never mind."

Cheers,

Chip Clouse

Lakewood

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