Loggerhead Shrike

redsgurl

Such a cool little bird. A songbird with predatory behavior, also called the Butcher Bird, because while it kills prey, it has no talons, and to eat, it will often impale it. Because there is no "barring" on it's chest, I'm going to say this is an adult. The facemask, and lack of barring on the chest, along with the bluish gray chest, verses the browner chest tells me this is a male.

WaterEngineer

Nice one. Good work.

Chuckc

A very cool little bird. Nice capture.

Pescatoral Pursuit

Great pic. At first glance, I often confuse it with a Mockingbird.

Then I'm always pleasantly surprised when I realize it's a "Butcherbird." I can't say I've ever been able to distinguish its call though.

mindyabiness

The picture is nice... I appreciate the information. I think a little info makes the picture much more interesting.
He looks like he could make life miserable for a ringneck snake or a Florida anole.

Thanks

mississippi mac

good shot Suz....
the shrikes winter here as well and are most commonly seen in the earlier morning or late afternoon...
my wife identified the bird to me many years ago as a "butcher bird" or shrike....
she explained to me with the way they dispatch their pray...

tim

redsgurl

Hi, and thanks for the nice words. They are a lot of fun to watch. Here is a link that has some sound clips/audio of their more common calls............. Scroll down a little bit.......................

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/loggerhead_shrike/sounds

JWT

Great shot - unique little birds & very under rated predators! It's a good thing they don't grow to the size of buzzards!