By Catherine Warwick
The most “Halloween” bird around is the Northern Shrike, aka, the “butcher bird”. Although it is a Passerine, which is a perching songbird, it has rejected the usual cutesy song-bird personality and instead is a merciless hunter. Not only does it hunt other birds, but it is known to rip its kill to shreds and impale pieces of the body on barb wire fences and tree branches. I don’t think a bird can get more grisly than that, it would even make a Crow shudder. It needs no costume to strike fear in a little bird’s heart, however it does sport a small black mask and a heavy hooked beak.
The Northern Shrike will scout out a nest or mouse hole and wait to strike. If it’s after a flying bird it may force it to the ground with its feet. Then it makes the kill with its hooked beak. In its upper bill (at the front) it has a vampirish toothlike spike, called a tomial tooth, that it uses to break the necks of its prey.
The Shrike spends its summer in the far north and just comes to Calgary for the winter, that’s how tough it is. Apparently, it finds our “balmy” -20°C days pleasant.
Ron saw the pictured Northern Shrike at Carburn Park last winter. Shrikes are known to return to the same winter territory year after year, so keep an eye out; you might see this tiny terror perched high atop a tree, scanning for its next victim.
In the summer they will head back to the far north to nest. One sweet fact about this bird – their nest is a deep cup that, when the female is in it, only her tail can be seen.
This winter get your binoculars ready to see a real horror icon: the Northern Shrike.
-Cathy
Note: The Northern Shrike has a summertime lookalike, the Loggerhead Shrike. Northern Shrikes are in our area from early October to late April. Loggerheads arrive in mid-May and can sometimes be seen into September. There is the possibility of a little overlap in May and September. Loggerhead Shrikes are a little smaller than Northerns, and have a clear breast without the barring of the Northern. They have a smaller bill with a tip that is less hooked, but they share the feeding habits of the Northern Shrike. -Bob
I just returned from Australia, the land of many beautiful birds and was fortunate enough to see a black faced cuckoo shrike. A much longer bird (10 inches or so head to tail) than our Northern bird and mostly all white/grey body and this striking round face with black feathers. I also got a photo. Beautiful looking bird. Great story and photos. Thank you Catherine.
The first time we saw a Chickadee impaled on a branch it was quite shocking. We phoned Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to find out what was going on. Such an interesting bird!