Loggerhead Shrike

 It may be hard to believe but this little passerine is as fierce a predator as an eagle or a hawk. The loggerhead shrike can be found in open woodland habitats through most of Mexico, the U.S. and south central Canada. Birds living in the southern part of the range are year long residents while northern birds migrate south for the winter.

Loggerhead shrike are an ambush hunter. They are often seen perched in a place with an unobstructed view where they can watch for prey, which includes insects, lizards, small rodents and birds. Since they do not have the strong feet or talons of a raptor they have to catch their prey with their beak. The beak is equipped with a tomial tooth, a triangular notch on the upper beak, just like falcons have. It uses this notch to sever the spinal cord of its prey. Once dead the shrike will impale its prey on a stick or the barb on barbed wire. This holds the prey while the shrike uses its hooked beak to rip bite sized pieces. This hunting style has earned the loggerhead shrike the nickname Butcher Bird.