Towheeblog

The Loggerhead Shrike can be found in most dry parts of eastern Oregon.  It is handsome, haughty and hell for smaller critters.   Last year at Malheur we saw one with a Tree Swallow in its clutches.  They rarely perch very high, sometimes using utility lines or poles but never tops of cottonwoods. They look for prey that is low and slow.  A Brewer’s Sparrow’s worst nightmare, I fear. This one was along Ruh-Red Road:

Here’s another shrike, hunting from a fence line near Malheur Field Station: