Loggerhead Shrike

Description:

Beyond the fence was an expansive field bordering a natural preserve. Plenty of lizards for their diet. There were a pair on the fence but I was only quick enough to get this one with my camera. Striking bird, this only the second or third pair I have seen in a few years of avid birdwatching in South Florida.

Habitat:

Open woodland. Scans for food from perches. Kills by biting prey in back of neck, cutting the spinal cord. 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.