{"id":49160,"date":"2017-10-27T05:18:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T11:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49160"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T19:34:58","slug":"loggerhead-shrikes-with-prey-in-northern-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/27\/loggerhead-shrikes-with-prey-in-northern-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Loggerhead Shrikes With Prey in Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three days ago while photographing birds in northern Utah I was able to take images of two individual Loggerhead Shrikes with prey.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike with Armored Stink Beetle prey – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The first Loggerhead Shrike dove to the ground from its perch and captured an Armored Stink Beetle and then flew up to a post to eat it.<\/p>\n

My first experience with an Armored Stink Beetle was not a pleasant one because I learned how badly they can stink and not only that but how long<\/em> a room can smell horrible when a stink beetle has been crushed.\u00a0 It is an awful smell.<\/p>\n

The shrike didn’t seem to care, it just wanted to eat.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike holding a Western Yellow Jacket – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Further down the road I spotted another Loggerhead Shrike and was photographing it when it also dove down to the ground and after a few seconds flew back to the same perch with a Western Yellow Jacket in its bill. The shrike seemed to take its time consuming the yellow jacket.<\/p>\n

I don’t know if that was because the bird knew the yellow jacket could sting it and wanted to crush the yellow jacket before it swallowed it whole or why it took longer to eat it than the other shrike took to eat the beetle but I did find it interesting.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike with Western Yellow Jacket prey – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I looked through the images I took carefully and never saw the stinger of the yellow jacket in the photos that I took of it.<\/p>\n

I was happy to photograph these two birds with their prey because I haven’t seen or photographed many Loggerhead Shrikes<\/span><\/a> this year as I have in years past.<\/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":"

Three days ago while photographing birds in northern Utah I was able to take images of two individual Loggerhead Shrikes with prey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167935,"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":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":[4004,6191,6192,4066,4106,3906,3907,6193,1730],"class_list":["post-49160","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-armored-stink-beetle","tag-eleodes-obscurus","tag-loggerhead-shrike","tag-prey","tag-shrike","tag-shrikes","tag-vespula-pensylvanica","tag-western-yellow-jacket"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-yellow-jacket-mia-mcpherson-2374.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cMU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98216,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/16\/loggerhead-shrike-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":49160,"position":0},"title":"Loggerhead Shrike At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I found this Loggerhead Shrike perched on a twig near the end of the auto tour loop.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Loggerhead Shrike at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, 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, 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Northern Shrike on a cold Utah day, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/northern-shrike-utah-mia-mcpherson-0402.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/northern-shrike-utah-mia-mcpherson-0402.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/northern-shrike-utah-mia-mcpherson-0402.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15006,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/20\/loggerhead-shrikes-and-a-few-things-that-bug-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":49160,"position":2},"title":"Loggerhead Shrikes And A Few Things That Bug Them","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning while Antelope Island there was a Loggerhead Shrike perched on a dead branch that was near the north shoreline of the Great Salt Lake.","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":"One adult Loggerhead Shrike bringing in prey to another, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrikes-prey-mia-mcpherson-7091.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-shrikes-prey-mia-mcpherson-7091.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrikes-prey-mia-mcpherson-7091.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"July 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I took this image the juvenile Loggerhead Shrike was perched on a dead twig when the robber fly flew into the frame, the shrike took off after the fly and caught it in mid air.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loggerhead Shrike juvenile looking at a Robber Fly, West Desert, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-robber-fly-mia-mcpherson-1272.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-robber-fly-mia-mcpherson-1272.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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