{"id":2432,"date":"2011-06-02T15:06:39","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T22:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2432"},"modified":"2026-01-30T12:32:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:32:38","slug":"a-shrike-kind-of-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/02\/a-shrike-kind-of-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A Shrike Kind Of Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike perched in sagebrush and rabbitbrush – Nikon D200, f8, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

There are days when I see a certain species of birds quite often, depending on location it might be an Eagle filled day, or a shorebird day. Today was a shrike kind of day on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I like those kind of days because you can often find the birds with\u00a0different\u00a0types of backgrounds and because it is breeding season right now there are usually pairs of birds in close proximity to each other.<\/p>\n

In the photo above the vegetation is sagebrush and rabbitbrush in the foreground and the brownish-red tufts in the background I believe are Cheatgrass, an introduced and invasive species from Eurasia. Still, the colors of the Cheatgrass are pretty.<\/p>\n

Not the typical Bird on a Stick (BOAS) image but one I find very appealing because of the depth the surrounding habitat provides in the frame.<\/p>\n

Loggerhead Shrikes are a perching bird but they look more like a small raptor because of their hooked bills. Their black, white, and soft gray plumage looks handsome to me especially against the soft greens of sagebrush and rabbitbrush.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike looking down – Nikon D200, f8, 1\/500, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

Today the light was iffy because of a bank of clouds hanging over the mountains to the east that often blocked the sunlight but it broke through often enough to get good light on these shrikes.<\/p>\n

It was a challenge though trying change the EV compensation because the light was changing constantly. Still, despite the challenges I think it was a great bird photography day… especially for Loggerhead Shrikes.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

There are days when I see a certain species of birds quite often, depending on location it might be an Eagle filled day, or a Shorebird day. Today was a Shrike kind of day on Antelope Island State Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,247,26],"tags":[4004,4073,4172,683,4171,4066,4104,4289,4057,3906,3907],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-loggerhead-shrikes","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-season","tag-cheatgrass","tag-habitat-2","tag-lanius-ludovicianus","tag-loggerhead-shrike","tag-perched","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-sagebrush","tag-shrike","tag-shrikes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-sagbrush-mia-mcpherson-0684.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-De","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14561,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/15\/an-adult-loggerhead-shrike\/","url_meta":{"origin":2432,"position":0},"title":"An Adult Loggerhead Shrike","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd forgotten all about this Loggerhead Shrike image that I had taken in July of 2011 and came across it the other day, I had meant to post it some time ago but as you all know life gets kind of busy at times.","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":"Adult Loggerhead Shrike perched on Rabbitbrush, 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-9170.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-9170.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-9170.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7908,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/21\/loggerhead-shrikes-they-are-mia\/","url_meta":{"origin":2432,"position":1},"title":"Loggerhead Shrikes – They Are MIA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm used to seeing Loggerhead Shrikes all year round here in northern Utah but they have been MIA for quite some time.","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":"Fluffed up Loggerhead Shrike, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-fluffed-mia-mcpherson-9917.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-fluffed-mia-mcpherson-9917.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-fluffed-mia-mcpherson-9917.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-fluffed-mia-mcpherson-9917.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4927,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/06\/a-loggerhead-shrike-and-its-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2432,"position":2},"title":"Loggerhead Shrike And Its Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A few weeks ago I was able to photograph a Loggerhead Shrike near the marina on Antelope Island State Park, Utah. It was an interesting experience for several reasons.","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 opening its bill, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mia-mcpherson-6369.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-mia-mcpherson-6369.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mia-mcpherson-6369.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mullein-mia-mcpherson-9746.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mullein-mia-mcpherson-9746.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5303,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/07\/a-cooperative-loggerhead-shrike-juvenile\/","url_meta":{"origin":2432,"position":4},"title":"Cooperative Loggerhead Shrike Juvenile","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"From all appearances it has been a great nesting season for the Loggerhead Shrikes on Antelope Island State Park, it seems everywhere I look there are numerous juvenile Shrikes perched on bushes near rather harried looking adults.","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":"Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike perched on Greasewood, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2743.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-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2743.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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