NORTHERN SHRIKE
Lanius borealis Vieillot
Northern Shrike
Other Name.—Butcher Bird.
Description.—Size of Robin, but with larger head and large, strongly hooked bill; sexes similar. Adults: Top of head, hind neck, and back, light gray, lightest along outer edges of scapulars and fading into white on rump and upper tail-coverts; line above eye, white; broad line through eye to ear-coverts, wings and tail, black; tips of the secondaries, base of the primaries, and tips of outer tail-feathers, white; underparts finely barred with light gray; bill, feet, and eyes, black. Young birds: Brownish gray, with dark brown wings and tail which are marked with white much as in the adults. The underparts are finely barred with brownish. Length: 10½ inches.
Range in Pennsylvania.—Rather rare winter visitant from late October or November to March. It is found chiefly in the northern counties in more or less open regions.
The shrike’s striking black and white plumage will suggest a Mockingbird. Its harsh cries have a sinister quality, however, suggesting a bird of prey. The heavy, hooked bill and strong feet assist it in capturing the mice, small birds, and insects which are its food, and which it impales on thorns or on barbed wire. Records of this species are desirable.
MIGRANT SHRIKE
Lanius ludovicianus migrans W. Palmer
Other Name.—Butcher Bird.
Description.—Smaller than Robin, with proportionally large head and strongly hooked bill; sexes similar. Top of head, hind neck, and back, clear gray, shading into whitish at outer edges of scapulars and on rump and upper tail-coverts; wings and tail black; tips of secondaries, base of primaries, and tips of outer tail-feathers, white; broad band through eye back to ear-coverts, black; underparts white, grayer on breast and belly, which are not barred.
Range in Pennsylvania.—A rather rare and local migrant and summer resident from early March to November, nesting chiefly in the Lake Erie coastal region and elsewhere in flat, open country.
Nest.—A bulky affair made of twigs, lined with feathers, placed in a thorn tree not far from the ground. Eggs: 3 to 6, white, spotted with gray or olive-gray.
Migrant Shrike
When a Shrike moves from one perch to another, it drops to within a few inches of the ground and moves along with characteristic buzzing flight, at which times its gray, black, and white plumage is conspicuous. In the field its head appears large, and it is given to perching in prominent barren places, on the top of a tree or on a wire.