Category: Loggerhead Shrikes

A Few Recent Loggerhead Shrikes

There’s always a few Loggerhead Shrikes that winter-over on Antelope Island and I find them to be fascinating subjects.   Their approachability is very unpredictable but occasionally they’ll allow me to get close, especially when it’s very cold in the mornings or if they’re about to hack up a pellet.  These are images I was able to get in the last few weeks. ***Note: The last image in this post is graphic.  If your sensibilities might be offended by such a photo please stop scrolling before you get to the last (6th) image.    1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This bird was practicing its springtime melodic repertoire a few weeks early (image taken on 2/5/12).  It was a relatively warm, sunny morning and it was singing its little heart out (if you can call shrike calls “singing”).        1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc With their black masks these shrikes always remind me of little bandits and they have an attitude to go along with that perception.  They get their name from their unusually large head (loggerhead means “block head”).        1/8000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I like the soft, even light and the setting in this image even though the twigs in front of the bird may not be ideal for some.        1/640, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc  I’m including this shot just for fun.  I liked the fluffy, relaxed pose to go along with the yawn.        1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500…

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Shrikes, Pellets and Photographer’s Frustrations

For about three years now one of my photography goals has been to get a series of quality shots showing a Loggerhead Shrike regurgitating a pellet.  My requirements were that the images must be sharp with good detail and light, there must be no significant distractions or clutter to interfere with the behavior, there should be light in the eye (a catch light) and the last shot must show the pellet after it has left the birds mouth.   This post is a progress report of sorts on how I’ve fared with the goal.  I’ll include some lessons I’ve learned and mistakes I’ve made so I hope you’ll bear with me through a few less than ideal images which help to illustrate some of those lessons.    1/1250, f/8, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This was my first image of a shrike ejecting a pellet (3/3/10).  I didn’t anticipate it happening and wasn’t even sure what was going on until I processed the image.  I got two almost identical shots that showed the pellet in the mouth and missed the pellet as it was ejected (I think I remember my buffer filling up just about then).  I was also too far away for good image quality – this is a large crop.           1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc On the next opportunity (8/5/11) I was frustrated by obstructing branches and a poor light angle.  While this young bird was ejecting the pellet it was facing mostly toward me which put its face and the pellet in shadow.  Then the juvenile did something completely unexpected…

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Birds, Spiders, Brine Flies and Mercury Contamination on Antelope Island

Last Sunday I found this Northern Shrike on Antelope Island enthusiastically singing away as if spring were already in full bloom.  Their predatory habits and interesting behaviors make them a favorite species for me but when I got home that day I read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune that made me wonder just how healthy their populations near the Great Salt Lake really are.    North end of Antelope Island, 2/5/12 The reason for my concern is a bit complex but I’ll summarize:  For over 100 years smelting operations have been responsible for high levels of elemental mercury in the Great Salt Lake and its sediments.  Microorganisms in the lake convert the mercury to methyl mercury which is the toxic form of the element that can be absorbed by tissues of living things.  Brine fly larvae living in the lake then absorb the methyl mercury and when they hatch the adult flies are consumed by spiders living in the vegetation around the lake.  Finally, those spiders are eaten by the many bird species living and nesting along the shoreline.  But very little is known about the movement of mercury compounds through Great Salt Lake ecosystems, including the possible effects of toxic methyl mercury on birds so Westminster College’s Great Salt Lake Institute was recently awarded a $250,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to study its possible effects.      Antelope Island causeway, 8/29/11 The number and total biomass of brine flies in late summer around the lake literally boggles the mind but this shot should give you some idea.  It was taken in late August of…

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Antelope Island Potpourri

My last few visits to Antelope Island have yielded a mixed bag of bird and mammal photos that I enjoy so I thought I’d share a little of what it’s like to experience the wildlife out there during late spring.    Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This take-off pose is one I’ve been after for some time so I was glad to get it from this Loggerhead Shrike, despite the foreground twig in front of the right wing-tip.        Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I believe this to be the same bird as in the previous photo.   It had captured what I think was one of the Ichneumon wasps and toyed with it a while before dropping it.  I was happy to get the wasp unobscured by the branches or the birds toes as it fell.  The shrike watched where it fell and retrieved it.      Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc There are presumably many pronghorn fawns on the island this time of year but I’ve found it difficult to get close to them or even to spot them at a distance – probably partially due to their instinctive behavior of lying low in the tall grasses much of the time.  This one was in a playful mood and spent several minutes romping through the grass around its mother.      Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the same fawn a few minutes later, just after nursing. …

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A Loggerhead Shrike, a Spider and Spit

 A few days ago Mia and I found this Loggerhead Shrike sitting prettily on a dried sunflower on Antelope Island.  The bird was using the sunflower as a hunting perch.    1/1600, f/8, ISO 500 I’ve always been amazed by the incredible eyesight of many bird species.  This shrike somehow spotted a spider crawling through the thick grass about 20 feet away from where it was perched and immediately flew down to grab it.      1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500 It was a relatively small spider and I have no idea how the shrike was able to see it in all the dense grass.  Even though the background is busy here I still liked the shot for the interesting look at both the spider and the tongue of the shrike.  It’s my presumption from looking at this photo that the saliva of the shrike is viscous and sticky, enabling the prey to stay attached to the tongue during the very fast process of pulling the spider to the back of the throat with the tongue.      1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500 A heavily cropped, close-up view of the same image provides a clue.  You can see that there’s a sheet of saliva stretched between the bottom of the tongue and the floor of the lower mandible and it does appear to be quite viscous.  I had no idea that it would be so “juicy” in there.  Nothing earth-shattering here, just some avian trivia  in a photo that I found interesting (yes, my interests can be…

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The Northern Shrike and the Good Samaritan

This blog post will be more about the experience I describe than about the shrike images. The Northern Shrike has been a nemesis bird for me for a long time.  I have many good images of its southern cousin the Loggerhead Shrike but the northern is an uncommon winter visitor to the northern US  and I’ve seldom seen one and never been close enough to the species for good, detailed images – until this week.  And I very nearly didn’t get the shots.     Northern Shrike This winter there has been a single (as far as I can tell) Northern Shrike wintering at the Great Salt Lake wetlands where I often shoot but I’ve never been able to get close enough to it for a quality shot.   Two days ago I was finally able to approach the bird but it wouldn’t have happened without the kind actions of a good Samaritan. As I was driving down the dirt road I could see the shrike flitting from perch to perch in front of me.  Several times I almost got close enough but then it would spook again.  Finally, just as I got close and trained my big lens on the shrike, wouldn’t you know it – a car came up behind me on the narrow road.  If it had passed it surely would have spooked the bird.  But it didn’t.  The driver could see my lens pointed out the window at the bird and simply stopped on the road, turned his engine off and waited respectfully for over 5 minutes as I photographed the shrike before it…

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Photographing Birds on Antelope Island

  My previous post was an overview of the geology of Antelope Island and its non-bird wildlife.  Here, I’ll focus on its birds.   Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike begging for food Loggerhead Shrikes are common on many parts of the island during summer.  They can be a challenge to approach but those few that nest close to the road eventually get used to traffic so if you photograph from your vehicle you can often get quite close.  Here this juvenile was begging for food that was being delivered by a parent just out of frame to the left.    Loggerhead Shrike with dragonfly  Shrikes are often called “butcher birds” for their practice of temporarily impaling their prey on thorns or other sharp projections.   This juvenile had done just that with the dragonfly but it wasn’t very good at it yet and in the end just decided to eat it instead of store it away.     Loggerhead Shrike with spider Shrikes are opportunistic carnivores known to feed on insects, spiders, amphibians, small reptiles, rodents and other birds.   This one also attempted to impale the prey before eating it.     Juvenile Burrowing Owl practicing its parallax technique on me Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite species on the island though they can be difficult to locate from year to year as they often don’t seem to nest in the same burrow the next year.  In the summer of 2009 there was an entire family of owls along the causeway to the island nesting under concrete rubble, as in the…

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Loggerhead Shrike Impaling Prey, revisited

  Recently on this blog I posted images of a juvenile Loggerhead Shrike impaling a dragonfly on thorns and said I hoped to get more documentation of the behavior but it would likely have to wait until next years nesting season.  I was wrong.  I witnessed and photographed this behavior again just three days ago.  This time the shrike was also a juvenile but the prey was a large spider.    Juvenile shrike with spider What happened after the capture was interesting for me.  The bird didn’t simply impale the prey and leave it (as a cache or food store)  as might be expected of an adult.  Instead, it attempted to impale the spider on different thorns multiple times, like it was practicing – learning how to do it (keep in mind, the bird is a juvenile).  In fact, at one point the shrike even seemed to be “studying” its work, as you will see (I’m sure that’s anthropomorphic of me).  Sometimes they don’t actually impale the prey, instead they wedge it into crevices or between forked branches/twigs.  This shrike tried to do both with the spider.  After what I believe was four attempts at impaling/wedging the spider on some thorny branches someone had placed in a campground fire pit, the bird had apparently had enough practice and simply ate the prey in several pieces.   Some of the  images below aren’t of the best quality but I think they do document what I saw.  As far as I could tell, the spider was dead through this whole process.    Attempting to impale…

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Loggerhead Shrikes Impaling Prey

  Shrikes have been called “butcher birds” for their habit of impaling their prey (insects, small rodents, reptiles or birds) on thorns, barbed wire or other sharp projections.   They do it for several reasons.  It helps them to tear  the flesh into bite sized pieces, they use it as a method of caching (storing) their food and it helps them to survive eating the toxic lubber grasshopper because the toxins within the insect degrade to harmless substances within a couple of days.   I had never seen or photographed this behavior, or evidence of it,  until this summer when I did both several times.                         In the first  three photos below, this juvenile Loggerhead Shrike is practicing this instinctive behavior but the bird apparently isn’t very skilled at it yet as it had some difficulty impaling the dragonfly on the short thorn just below the insect.  In the first image the bird seems to be trying to decide which of several thorns to use for this grisly task.    Preparing to impale the dragonfly      Impaling the dragonfly on a thorn        The dragonfly has been impaled, though a little off-center.   In this case the bird didn’t wait long to begin eating the prey.  Here it has torn off the head and the front part of the abdomen with one pair of wings attached and is swallowing them.  As you can see, the rest of the insect is still impaled on the thorn.   Soon after this shot was taken the shrike removed the rest of the dragonfly from the thorn, flew with…

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