Jan 24, 2020: Northern Shrike

Northern Shrikes, along with their cousin, the Loggerhead Shrike, are predatory songbirds.  They feed on small birds, mammals, and insects.  They are also know as "butcherbirds" for their sometime habit of impaling their prey on spines or barbed wire.  Locally, Northern Shrikes are present in late Fall and Winter months and breed in the taiga and tundra areas.  The Loggerhead Shrike breeds in Iowa, although the population has been drastically reduced. (Wolf. Oesterreich, 1/21/20)