According to data I downloaded on eBird today, birdwatchers reported Loggerhead Shrikes from Florida to California and as far north as Idaho and Maryland this winter. Counts peaked at more than 2,200 individuals during the week of January 1. In recent weeks, the shrikes seem to be most numerous in coastal Texas, Louisiana, and central California.
Now I'm wondering if any of them were juveniles, like the one pictured here.
As we noted in Birding Briefs in our February issue, Loggerheads typically begin their breeding cycle from now to mid-March, but a few birds have been observed breeding much earlier.
My friend Reuven Yosef, director of the International Birding and Research Center in Eilat, Israel, and a leading expert on the world’s shrikes, says he and fellow shrike researcher Susan Craig of Colorado Springs, Colorado, have seen active nests and recently fledged young in Florida and Texas from early January to early February.
The sightings suggest that Loggerheads had initiated breeding in mid-December, Yosef says. The scientists want to know more about how widespread early nesting is.
Juveniles are paler than adults and have narrow gray barring on their breasts. If you observe nesting adults or young Loggerhead Shrikes this winter, please write to Craig at scraig10@q.com. --Matt Mendenhall, Associate Editor
Photo: juvenile Loggerhead Shrike by Brian Garrett, used under a Creative Commons license
Read "Masked Predator," a 2007 feature story about the Loggerhead Shrike by Contributing Editor Julie Craves
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