Monday, August 8, 2011

Loggerhead Shrike - Western Birds

A Loggerhead Shrike, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands Nat. Park; 6/18/2011.

Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands Nat. Park, CA; 6/18/2011.
While I was on my futile attempt to locate an Island Scrub Jay on Santa Cruz Island (Above), I heard an unfamiliar sound coming from a small tree in a grassy pasture in Scorpion Canyon. When I finally spotted the bird who was responsible for this song, I knew immediately it was a Loggerhead Shrike (Top). I've seen several in on my visits to Arizona (Below), but I never heard one sing before.

A Loggerhead Shrike, South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ; 12/23/2008.
Loggerhead Shrikes are a very mono-chromatically colored bird - grays, white and black. It is gray overall with a broad black mask, wings and tail. with white cheeks and white patches on their wings.

Another Loggerhead Shrike, McDowell Mts., Phoenix, AZ; 12/30/2009.
Even though they are not exclusively Western birds, as they can be found from coast to coast in the southern half of the country, but the only times I have ever seen these Shrikes are in the West.


How about some more Dolphins, Channel Islands Nat. Park, CA; 6/18/2011.

Sunset of the Day
Sunset from Mount Rainier Nat. Park, Washington State; 6/24/2006.


1 comment:

  1. This is too pretty a bird to have such a clumsy-sounding name.

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