{"id":4927,"date":"2012-05-06T03:55:11","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T09:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4927"},"modified":"2026-01-30T14:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:12:24","slug":"a-loggerhead-shrike-and-its-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/06\/a-loggerhead-shrike-and-its-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Loggerhead Shrike And Its Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago I was able to photograph a Loggerhead Shrike near the marina on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>, Utah. It was an interesting experience for several reasons.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike with its bill open – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first spotted the shrike it was perched on top of a rabbitbrush and I was able to get several images of the bird before it dove into the base of another nearby bush. I thought it was going to expel a pellet when I took this frame, but it didn’t.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike side view – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After a few moments the shrike appeared on top of another rabbitbrush adjacent to the one it had dived underneath. I wanted to get clear images of the bird’s tail without the foreground obstructions so I hoped it would move to another location.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike preening in top of a rabbitbrush – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/800, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Loggerhead preened for a bit, it looks like it also needed to clean the blood from a recent meal from its bill too.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike keeping an eye on a Common Raven – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 321mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As I photographed the shrike it suddenly hunched down, getting close to the bush it was perched on and I could tell that it was looking at something above and behind me but the roof of the “mobile blind” was in the way so I wasn’t sure what it was.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike with one eye on a raven – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 321mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time I created this frame I could tell that the shrike was watching a Common Raven fly by, I’m fairly certain that ravens do not prey on adult Loggerhead Shrikes but they may prey on their young. I have seen this hunkering down behavior in Loggerhead Shrikes before.<\/p>\n

\"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike with a bit of prey in its bill – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 800, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Within just a few moments after the Raven flew out of range the shrike dove into the base of the same rabbitbrush it had been underneath before. At first I thought it went into the bush for safety reasons but I was soon to find out why it had been returning to that bush.<\/p>\n

When the Loggerhead flew out of the bush I could tell it had something in its bill, I quickly zoomed all the way out, locked on focus, and was able to fire off four images as the shrike perched briefly on a dried out sunflower stalk.<\/p>\n

A pretty messy environment but I felt the image was interesting because of the prey in the bill.<\/p>\n

The bird flew off and out of sight so I got out of the mobile blind and went over to the bush the shrike had gone into both times with one of my backup D200’s that has my Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens attached to it.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Loggerhead Shrike’s impaled prey – Nikon D200, handheld, f11, 1\/45, ISO 250, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was tickled to find and point out the shrike’s prey impaled on the bush, they cache prey that way. Think of it as a shrike’s pantry, they know just where to go when they get hungry again.<\/p>\n

The day was partly overcast which is why I used a high ISO for the shrike images to get the shutter speeds I thought I might need and also why I was using positive exposure compensation.<\/p>\n

It pays to observe your subject, to learn their behaviors and to not start up the engine to pull away too quick or I would have missed the shot of the shrike with the prey in the bill. Having patience is a MUST in bird photography.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167766,"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":[4004,5552,4021,11044,4171,4066,6733,4104,8552,4106,4289,3906,3907,5769,4290],"class_list":["post-4927","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-bill","tag-bird-photography","tag-hunched-down","tag-lanius-ludovicianus","tag-loggerhead-shrike","tag-open","tag-perched","tag-preened","tag-prey","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-shrike","tag-shrikes","tag-side-view","tag-vole"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-mia-mcpherson-6369.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1ht","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101743,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/23\/loggerhead-shrike-population-decline-concerns\/","url_meta":{"origin":4927,"position":0},"title":"Loggerhead Shrike Population Decline Concerns","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loggerhead Shrike perched on a lichen covered rock, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6340.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6340.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6340.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/loggerhead-shrike-adult-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-6340.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51818,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/25\/loggerhead-shrike-allofeeding-courtship-behavior-plus-a-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":4927,"position":1},"title":"Loggerhead Shrike Allofeeding Courtship Behavior Plus a Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Loggerhead Shrike did fly in and brought prey to feed the presumed female, during the mating season the males will allofeed the females as part of their courtship behavior. I've never been able to photograph allofeeding behavior before so I was tickled pink.","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":"Presumed male Loggerhead Shrike allofeeding the female, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/loggerhead-shrikes-allofeeding-mia-mcpherson-4288.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/loggerhead-shrikes-allofeeding-mia-mcpherson-4288.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/loggerhead-shrikes-allofeeding-mia-mcpherson-4288.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/loggerhead-shrikes-allofeeding-mia-mcpherson-4288.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7908,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/21\/loggerhead-shrikes-they-are-mia\/","url_meta":{"origin":4927,"position":2},"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":14561,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/15\/an-adult-loggerhead-shrike\/","url_meta":{"origin":4927,"position":3},"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":2432,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/02\/a-shrike-kind-of-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4927,"position":4},"title":"A Shrike Kind Of Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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 in sagebrush and rabbitbrush, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-sagbrush-mia-mcpherson-0684.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-sagbrush-mia-mcpherson-0684.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-sagbrush-mia-mcpherson-0684.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-sagbrush-mia-mcpherson-0684.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15006,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/20\/loggerhead-shrikes-and-a-few-things-that-bug-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":4927,"position":5},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/loggerhead-shrikes-prey-mia-mcpherson-7091.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}