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Loggerhead Shrike

Lanius ludovicianus ORDER: PASSERIFORMES FAMILY: LANIIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

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Loggerhead Shrike Photo

© Kevin T. Karlson

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.

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Appearance

Crows and Jays-like
Crows and Jays-like
Typical Voice

Adult Description

  • Medium-sized songbird.
  • Gray back.
  • White throat and whitish chest.
  • Black mask.
  • Large head.
  • Medium-long tail.
  • Stout black bill, with hook at end.
  • Wings black with white patch.
  • Tail black with white outer feathers.

Immature Description

Juvenile similar to adult, but duller gray and with faint bars on chest and back.

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Similar Species

  • Northern Shrike is larger, with a larger bill with a pale base to the lower mandible, a narrower black mask that does not extend across the forehead, and usually faint wavy barring on the chest. Immature Northern is brownish.
  • Northern Mockingbird similarly colored, but lacks the black mask and has a narrow, pointed bill.