54 Loggerhead Shrike

• A group of Loggerhead Shrike are called an; Abattoir / Watch.
• This one crashed into our window chasing some poor little Red Polls.
• They generally eat grasshoppers and beetles when available, and mice and voles, and small birds when not.
• They kill their prey by breaking their necks and paralyzing them by cutting their throats with the aid of, wait for it, an anatomical or cutting tooth.  YES I said a tooth.  Who knew?  Know wonder a group of these are called an Abattoir!
• They can carry prey up to their body weight in their feet and then impale them in thorns or a barb wire fence to eat.  Their feet do not have talons to aid in the kill.  Insects they will carry in their beaks.
• The eastern Loggerhead is endangered in Canada and in some states.  The Prairie has seen signs of declining population as well.  The Prairie Loggerhead is well liked by farmers for their fight on grasshoppers, beetles, mice and voles.
• They have 4-7 eggs about head height off the ground in April, both parents help raise them.