REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS AS LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE PREY

Howard O Clark; Colibri Ecological Consulting, LLC; hclark@colibri-ecology.com;

The Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) is a medium-sized gray songbird found across much of North America, including Mexico, where it inhabits open landscapes with scattered shrubs and patches of grasses and forbs—such as grasslands, scrublands, deserts, steppes, prairies, and savannas. The species is well known for its distinctive hunting behavior: impaling prey on sharp objects like thorns, barbed wire, cacti, and yucca leaves, or wedging items between forked branches. After impaling an item, the shrike often departs, using these “larders” as food caches and possibly as territorial or courtship displays. Its prey consists of a wide range of invertebrates (e.g., grasshoppers, crickets, beetles) and vertebrates (e.g., rodents, birds, amphibians, and reptiles). Over the past 30 years, the hunting and impalement of reptiles and amphibians by Loggerhead Shrikes has become a particular focus of study. Here, I present a photographic record of some of the reptile and amphibian species I have observed being taken as prey by Loggerhead Shrikes in the field.  

Poster Session