Loggerhead Shrikes Tied to Horses

[Alfred Maley]

When I was growing up in Rochester, NY there werestll nesting loggerhead shrikes there - always in horse pastures. That’s because grazing made it easy to catch grasshoppers and the hawthorn trees (which the horses didn’t eat) provided secure nest sites.

This western species invaded the east when the forests were cleared and horses provided much of the farming muscle. With the advent of the automobile, the shrikes began their gradual decline.and forests began to reclaim the pastures. No need to scurry after government grants to study the decline of this species. It’s sort of obvious.

Al Maley
Hampstead, NH