A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Lanius ludovicianus
The bird has a large hooked bill; the head and back are grey and the underparts white. The wings and tail are black, with white patches on the wings and white on the outer tail feather. The black face mask extends over the bill, unlike that of the similar but slightly larger Northern Shrike. We found this wonderful small bird at the Willows. It was our first stop in Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas.
The meandering bayous of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge cut through ancient flood plains, creating vast expanses of coastal marsh and prairie bordering Galveston Bay in southeast Texas. The marshes and prairies are host or home to an abundance of wildlife, from migratory birds, to alligators, to bobcats, and more. Established in 1963, the 34,000-acre refuge is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, a national network of lands and waters set aside for the benefit of wildlife and you. The management focus of the refuge (and its companion refuges, McFaddin and Texas Point) is to protect and manage the coastal marsh for migrating, wintering and breeding waterfowl, shorebirds and waterbirds, and provide strategic and crucial nesting areas for the neotropical migratory songbirds migrating across the Gulf of Mexico.
A small gray, black, and white bird of open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike hardly appears to be a predator. But it uses its hooked beak to kill insects, lizards, mice, and birds, and then impales them on thorns to hold them while it rips them apart.
2 Comments
done
Hey there, Gatorfellows...this is a great capture of a very raptor-like bird...however, it is not a true raptor. I love watching these guys...and have seen their prey impaled on barbed wire, and I know they are vicious little predators. I'm sorry, but would you please remove this spotting from the Raptors of North America mission? If you have other true raptor spottings, they are welcome in the mission. Thanks!!