Bad-azz bird....

[Big Muddy]

A friend saw this in the woods....learn something new every day....never heard of the loggerhead shriker bird, down here, but, evidentally they are becoming more prevalent....also, called the butcher bird....since they don't have big feet, they impale their prey on thorns and even barbed wire, before eating them.



480


481

[HideHunter]

Eddie, We don't have the loggerhead but we have the common shrike. Looks very much the same. They're not real prevalent. We don't see them often. I saw one pounce on a junco last year. He just sat on it and kept working on its head/neck area with that beak. When he finally got it pretty well sudued he flew away with it - I assume to stick it on a thorn. Cool critter. They also make their nest out of thorns (usually black locust here). It's just a ball of thorns a little smaller than a volleyball. When you see one you wonder what kind of a gawd-awful creature could live in there. ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

We got 'em here in Oklahoma too. Can't say that I pay much attention to them but I've seen them. I've never seen them do that thorn bush thing but I'll pay more attention to them from now on to see if I can catch one in the act.
BKB

[quercus alba]

If you don't have any thorns handy, they ain't shy about using barbed wire