We’ve all seen them, robin-sized gray and black birds, perched on tall trees and power lines or flying from perch to perch. Watch the shrike long enough and its true nature becomes apparent. These birds are efficient and fearless predators, capable of killing birds and mammals even larger than themselves. Shrikes have a habit of impaling prey on thorns, barbed wire fences or other sharp objects, and so have earned the nickname butcherbirds. These birds have their reasons for doing this, as we’ll see later.

There are two species of shrikes in North America. In the mid-western states, the Loggerhead Shrike is the summer shrike, nesting across most of the region, but it is more common in the west than the east. Loggerhead Shrikes from our area migrate to the southern United States and Mexico for the winter. The Northern Shrikes that nest across northern Canada and Alaska move south in winter, occupying into the same habitat that the Loggerhead Shrike prefers, open country with scattered trees and bushes. A good rule of thumb for shrikes seen north of Kansas is this: A shrike seen in May through September is a loggerhead; a shrike in November through February is a Northern Shrike. Here in central South Dakota, I’ve never found this rule to be untrue.

Read the rest of the Doug's column in our January issue...