great grey shrike

great grey shrike

Given its macabre habits, it’s not surprising that this bird has amassed hundreds of folk names that evoke violence and dread – such as the Germanic ‘choking angel’ – across its European haunts. Here in North America we have exactly two species of butcherbirds: the medium-sized Northern Shrike (also know as the Great Grey Shrike) and the somewhat smaller Loggerhead Shrike. I feel slightly detached from the local walks now, but there is an important link here. Other notes: In immature Northern Shrikes, the mask is practically a smudge and barely visible. Published by jonathanpomroy. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Your support helps secure a future for birds at risk. When my children were growing up, my youngest daughter was traumatised when the family of field mice in the jolly, televised cartoon version of Farthing Wood were skewered onto a thornbush by a red-backed shrike. The smell of damp leaf litter added to the autumnal atmosphere.Yesterday, a chance to go birding with my younger son. If you live in the northern United States, you can see the Loggerhead Shrike in summer and the Northern Shrike in winter (they breed up in the taiga and tundra). ( Log Out /  Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news. Audubon does not participate in political campaigns, nor do we support or oppose candidates.”. Pallas’s leaf warbler near Brotton. We were particularly driven to see a reported great grey shrike. In Scotland, however, the bird enjoys the more jovial sobriquet of White Whisky John, due to its slightly erratic, tipsy flight, which reveals its white underparts. One day, when I was working on Langholm Moor in Dumfriesshire, some birdwatchers gathered in a layby on the hill road revealed with great excitement that a great grey shrike had arrived. We protect birds and the places they need. ( Log Out /  The secret to identifying adult shrikes is all in the face. Please login or subscribe to view this information. But what do you do in the middle of the country where their winter ranges overlap? This species has always been a favourite of mine. Or take action immediately with one of our current campaigns below: The Audubon Bird Guide is a free and complete field guide to more than 800 species of North American birds, right in your pocket. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. One those birds I used to dream of seeing as I flicked through books as a child, great grey shrikes never disappoint.Several times it gave chase to smaller birds, probably goldcrests, it was just too distant to tell. Photos: Deborah Bifulco/Great Backyard Bird Count, “The views expressed in user comments do not reflect the views of Audubon. When it comes to songbirds, shrikes are a bloodthirsty bunch. ALL IMAGES ON THIS WEBSITE ARE COPYRIGHT JONATHAN POMROY 2020, November 26th- lockdown contrasts and great spotted woodpecker, November 18th- redwing, hawfinches and hornbeams, 16th November- oak study in watercolour at Yorkshire Arboretum. Some details of this Great Grey Shrike sighting are only available to our subscribers. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. These diminutive warblers punch well above their weight when it comes to colour. They’ve earned the name “butcher birds” for the way they impale their prey on thorns or barbed wire. Legal Notices Privacy Policy Contact Us. Latest Sightings of Great Grey Shrike The latest sighting details and map for Great Grey Shrike are only available to our BirdGuides Ultimate or our BirdGuides Pro subscribers. We watched mesmerised by this bird and would have been quite happy to go home after just that sighting, but just up the road two more treats awaited. Simon Lester takes a look at the great grey shrike, a delicate-looking songbird whose innocent appearance belies its sadistic tendencies – for this is a bird gruesomely adept at skewering its prey on thorns. Sightings like this really bring home the wonder of bird migration. Looking through my binoculars in the direction pointed out by a battery of scopes, I enjoyed my first glimpse of ‘the butcher bird’. Fabulous sketches, love the Short-toed lark! As I sketched a hundred or so pink-footed geese flew over and curlew calls rang out from the nearby coast. For more diagrams and side-by-side comparisons of the two species, check out this nifty guide by Canadian ornithologist Ron Pittaway. In fact sometimes I think the colours are almost enhanced on dull days as they appear luminous in the bottom of a dark hedge. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. In fact, it’s a songbird, albeit with a powerful hooked bill and violent, carnivorous tendencies. 14K 2,502. That the first part of its Latin name, Lanius, means butcher could not be more apt, because, after chasing down a small bird or dropping on a vole or lizard, the shrike beats its victim to death with its inch-long beak. ( Log Out /  Photo: Howard Arndt/Audubon Photography Awards, Great Egret. It flew off into nearby scrub. The taxon Lanius meridionalis is an extralimital species that is restricted to Iberian peninsula (Iberian Grey Shrike). Spread the word. In Sylvia Plath’s poem The Shrike, the wife takes on the role of the butchering shrike, ‘she must wait in rage/Until bird-racketing dawn/When her shrike-face/Leans to peck open those locked lids, to eat/Crowns, palace, all’. Their targets can include anything from cardinals and lizards to grasshoppers and mice. Lincolnshire 11:57 . Simon Lester takes a look at the great grey shrike, a delicate-looking songbird whose innocent appearance belies its sadistic tendencies – for this is a bird gruesomely adept at skewering its prey on thorns. Probably. On reflection, it’s strange how the attractive and dexterous great grey shrike has evolved into a figure of horror because it spears its prey to help it to eat, when the song thrush – another bird that sits in solitude at the top of a tree and sings its heart out, but batters snails to bits on a rock – gets away with blue murder. Firecrest studies Short-toed lark at South Gare. The first known illustration of a great grey shrike appears in the Sherborne Missal, an illuminated medieval manuscript from the 1400s. If you live in the northern United States, you can see the Loggerhead Shrike in summer and the Northern Shrike in winter (they breed up in the taiga and tundra). Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program. As we left Redcar, driving parallel to the beach a woodcock came over the top of the car, overtaking us, only a few feet above the windscreen. Like favourite tunes sightings of birds can bring back vivid memories.On the other side of the road a short-toed lark was feeding in an industrial rock strewn area. In the extreme southern states, you only get the Loggerhead year round. It’s morbidly fascinating that, over time, the great grey shrike has perfected its butchery skills to the point where it can remove the poisonous skin of a toad so as to make a meal of a creature that is off the menu to most predators. Species that shrikes might be confused with include Northern Mockingbirds, Clark’s Nutcrackers, and Townsend’s Solitaires. Great Grey (Northern) Shrike - Lanius excubitor Great Grey (Northern) Shrike - Lanius excubitor. Are the Trump Administration's Environmental Rollbacks Built to Last? Can This Critically Endangered Bird Survive Australia's New Climate Reality? A firecrest fed in some scrub, especially elder, quite close to the road. Furthermore, although both species are declining in range and numbers, the red-backed shrike – which used to breed here and now visits just as the great grey is leaving – is virtually extinct as a UK breeding bird. Yet their hooked beaks, beefy heads, and distinct behavior set them apart from other birds. Bald Eagle. Other notes: The immature version of this bird is much grayer, and has dark barring across its chest. The light colour of the shrikes back almost defied silhouette as it blended with the light grey sky behind. If you see a passerine hovering and hunting in a clearing, there’s no doubt: You’re about to see a butcherbird get down to business. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Our email newsletter shares the latest programs and initiatives. Photo: Dick Dickinson/Audubon Photography Awards, From left to right: Loggerhead Shrike and Northern Shrike. Later, the ‘waryangle’ (little villain or winter angel) is mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Friar’s Tale ‘as ful of venym been thise waryangles’ and it was once believed that the thorns the shrike impales its victims on remained poisonous forever. These hooters have surprisingly big vocabularies. These are the best clues to help you know which ‘butcherbird’ is which. National Audubon Society Indeed, in more than 40 years as a gamekeeper, I’ve only ever seen one. Breeding in North America, Eurasia: n; can be seen in 107 countries. Photos: Deborah Bifulco/Great Backyard Bird Count, Smudge 9000/Flickr CC (CC BY-SA 2.0). 12:03 20/10 Great Grey Shrike. Related. This bird had undoubtedly just made landfall after crossing the sea. The bright lemon yellows, white and green tones brighten the dullest autumn day. It was a “wow” moment! Preferring to hunt in open areas, they'll perch on the very top branches of trees or on powerlines to watch for prey.

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