Like eagles and falcons, shrikes are birds of prey. However, they aren’t raptors, but are songbirds. Though shrikes have a sharp, hooked beak, they are small and have weak legs. The little shrike ...

Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad III, was prince of Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1477. Wallachia was a region of Europe that eventually become present-day Romania. A ferocious warrior, Vlad was ...

The shrikes are among our most interesting birds. They're on my mind this week because I've seen them on three different occasions. There are two species in our area. At this time of year, the ...

Bite a mouse in the back of the neck and don’t let go. Now shake your head at a frenzied 11 turns per second, as if saying “No, no, no, no, no!” You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike ...

Have you ever heard of a butcherbird? If you haven’t, you might be picturing a murderous bird wielding a bloody ax. If so you’re not off by much. A butcherbird, otherwise known as a loggerhead shrike, ...

On a damp morning at the end of November, I wandered out on the wetlands near the golf course. There were rumors of short-eared owls foraging in the meadows, and I hoped to watch one in action. They ...

Last December, as I was crossing the yard at the nature center, I heard an unusual bird song. It came from a small songbird perched near the top of an ash tree west of the barn, overlooking a brushy ...

Each year around Halloween, the northern shrike lands in our region to spend the winter. A songbird slightly smaller than a robin and covered in silvery-gray plumage, it sports a black tail and wings ...

After speaking with Nathan Klaus, my long-standing crush on the Loggerhead shrike blossomed into a full-fledged infatuation. The songbird with a raptor’s habits has moxie. Klaus, a senior wildlife ...