{"id":101743,"date":"2022-04-23T05:46:52","date_gmt":"2022-04-23T11:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=101743"},"modified":"2026-01-31T14:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:35:26","slug":"loggerhead-shrike-population-decline-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/23\/loggerhead-shrike-population-decline-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Loggerhead Shrike Population Decline Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

About two weeks ago I found an adult Loggerhead Shrike perched on a lichen covered rock in northern Utah a good distance from the road that I was on. This small raptor-wanna-be was busy calling and singing<\/span><\/a> when I spotted it.<\/p>\n

Given that it is their breeding season here in Utah this shrike may have been trying to find a mate.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike perched on a lichen covered rock \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

But will this shrike find a mate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I have concerns about that. Since I moved to Utah in 2009 I have seen the numbers of Loggerhead Shrikes drop significantly. In areas where I used to see twenty to twenty-five Loggerhead Shrikes I am now lucky if I find even one. I work hard to find this species now. It wasn’t always that way.<\/p>\n

Over the winter I may have photographed this particular shrike. It wasn’t all that far from where I consistently found a single Loggerhead Shrike throughout the coldest months of the year. That shrike was always alone. I never found another one nearby. There wasn’t another shrike near this one either.<\/p>\n

Without any doubts I know that my observations of Loggerhead Shrikes are far fewer than they used to be and that I am not the only person who has wondered about a decline in their population in northern Utah. Other local birders and bird photographers have mentioned that they too are seeing fewer Loggerhead Shrikes than they used to see.<\/p>\n

Seeing fewer Loggerhead Shrikes worries me. I wonder if they are being impacted by our drought and climate change or if both of those issues have caused a reduction in their prey in Utah. I truly don’t know. What I know is that there are fewer of them to be found in northern Utah than there were just five or six years ago.<\/p>\n

And that isn’t good news.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to allaboutbirds.org<\/span><\/a> this species is in steep decline.<\/p>\n

Loggerhead Shrikes are still fairly numerous in some areas (particularly the South and West), but their populations have fallen sharply. Between 1966 and 2015, the species declined by almost 3% per year, resulting in a cumulative decline of 76%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.<\/p>\n

The species\u2019 decline coincides with the introduction and increased use of chemical pesticides between the 1940s and the 1970s, and may result in part from the birds\u2019 ingestion of pesticide-laced prey from treated fields. Other likely causes of population decline include collision with vehicles, urban development, conversion of hayfields and pastureland, decimation of hedgerows, habitat destruction by surface-coal strip-mining, and altering of prey populations by livestock grazing.<\/p>\n

In northern Utah unchecked urban sprawl, the use of pesticides and other habitat destruction may be only part of the cause for the decline in the numbers of Loggerhead Shrikes that I am seeing.<\/p>\n

We need to do more to protect Loggerhead Shrikes, other birds, and the entire natural world.<\/p>\n

Now.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Loggerhead Shrike photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About two weeks ago I found an adult Loggerhead Shrike perched on a lichen covered rock in northern Utah a good distance from the road that I was on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,247,26],"tags":[4004,4098,4171,3291,5771,9979,4066,4104,4747,4921,4470,3906,3907,165],"class_list":["post-101743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-loggerhead-shrikes","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-desert","tag-lanius-ludovicianus","tag-lichen","tag-lichen-covered","tag-lichens","tag-loggerhead-shrike","tag-perched","tag-population-decline","tag-rock","tag-rocks","tag-shrike","tag-shrikes","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6340.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qt1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109638,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/16\/winter-loggerhead-shrike\/","url_meta":{"origin":101743,"position":0},"title":"Winter Loggerhead Shrike: A Species In Decline","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to extended gray, cloudy weather and not getting out into the field I dug into my archives and today I am sharing a photo of a winter Loggerhead Shrike.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loggerhead Shrike in winter, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-winter-mia-mcpherson-9820.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-winter-mia-mcpherson-9820.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-winter-mia-mcpherson-9820.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-winter-mia-mcpherson-9820.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":79870,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/27\/loggerhead-shrike-on-a-witness-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":101743,"position":1},"title":"Loggerhead Shrike On A Witness Post","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week while looking through older photos I came across this Loggerhead Shrike perched on a Witness Post image and I chuckled out loud.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9454.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9454.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9454.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36483,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/29\/loggerhead-shrikes-different-backgrounds-and-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":101743,"position":3},"title":"Loggerhead Shrikes – Different Backgrounds and Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Both of these Loggerhead Shrikes were photographed on Antelope Island State Park, both of them are adults, both were photographed when the sky was clear and both were perched on a dead twig of a greasewood but they were also photographed with different backgrounds, different times of the morning and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched adult Loggerhead Shrike and clear sky, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-mia-mcpherson-4003.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-mia-mcpherson-4003.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-mia-mcpherson-4003.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-mia-mcpherson-4003.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4707,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-perched-on-moth-mullein\/","url_meta":{"origin":101743,"position":4},"title":"Loggerhead Shrike Perched On Wand Mullein","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been seeing more and more Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) pairing up the past week or so which means it won't be long before they are on their nests.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loggerhead Shrike perched on a Moth Mullein, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mullein-mia-mcpherson-9746.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mullein-mia-mcpherson-9746.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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