Chunky, big-headed songbird with a thick, hooked bill. It has a gray head with a black mask that wraps across the top of the bill. Note prominent white flashes in the wings in flight.
Chunky songbird with a thick, hooked bill and a long tail. White wing patch often visible at rest. Sometimes shows faint barring on the whitish undersides.
Often perches on exposed twigs or powerlines. Song is variable and often weak, sometimes sounds like a hiccup.
In flight, white wing flashes are prominent. Outer tail feathers also flash white.
Chunky songbird with a thick, hooked bill. Young birds are more brownish than adults, with stronger brownish barring on the chest.
Often hunts from exposed perches such as telephone wires and fencelines.
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Loggerhead Shrikes are thick-bodied songbirds. They have large, blocky heads and a thick bill with a small hook. The tail is fairly long and rounded.
Smaller and more slender than an American Robin; larger and longer-tailed than a Western Bluebird.
robin-sizedShrikes from eastern North America have pale to medium-gray rumps. Loggerhead Shrikes from the Interior West have white rumps similar to those of Northern Shrikes. Loggerhead Shrikes breeding in southern California are slightly darker above and much darker below. An endangered subspecies of Loggerhead Shrike from San Clemente Island, in southern California, is the darkest gray of all.
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