August 29, 2026
Birding Report by Jane Burgess
About a month and half
ago Bill, Barbara and I registered for the Loggerhead Shrike Field
Visit. Bill and Barbara do a Loggerhead Shrike survey in early summer
one per month for three months. I volunteered to help the first time
this year, then we included it in our regular birding trips.
I expressed interest in seeing where they released the birds. We signed
up for the 9:00 visit. So this morning (Saturday) at 6:46 we left
Jane's place and arrived at the gate on Nugent Road at 8:50. When we
turned down Nugent Road we saw a shrike on the top of a tree, but we did
not stop because we did not want to be late. In retrospect that was a
mistake because we saw it a lot closer than those we saw later.
Background:
I should really comment on the difference between Northern Shrike (the
ones we see often in the winter around the Ottawa area and the
Loggerhead Shrike (the ones if we are lucky to see them found in the
Napanee area and Cardin Plain). Three big differences - the thickness
of the facial mask, the colour of the base of their bill and the barring
on their chest. The Loggerhead Shrike has a thicker facial mask
covering its eyes and extends across the forehead. The northern
Shrike's facial mask is much thinner. The Loggerhead Shrikes have
smaller all black bills, while the Northern Shrike has a longer and
almost flesh coloured base of the bill during fall and winter. An adult
Loggerhead Shrike has a solid white chest with no barring while
Northern Shrikes have faint brown or grey barring and scalloping across
the chest and underparts.
Loggerhead Shrike
is an endangered resident in Ontario with only a few dozen breeding
pairs that are found in Southern Ontario. While Northern Shrike is a
secure northern breeder
The report: A
vehicle was parked at the gate so we knew it was the correct place. We
got out and introduced ourselves. A few minutes later a young lady
came across the field and unlocked the gate. Only four in the group,
the maximum size. She explained that we would walk across the field to
the feeding station (where they kept all the food and other supplies).
The field was quite rough, a herd of about 50 cows graze on the grass,
keeping the grass short which helped the Shrikes see all the critters
that they feed on -- so many, it was alive with insects, many many
grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, etc. Honestly I thought the shrike
ate mice and birds, but no, they eat mainly large insects. A google
search indicated that insects make up 75% of their diet in the summer,
in the winter they eat small songbirds and rodents.
I
remember when I first started birding and saw a Northern Shrike, I was
told they were called a Butcher Bird. they do not possess strong talons
to hold onto their prey. They use their hooked bill to sever the
prey's spinal cord and then impale them on a sharp object such as a
thorn or barbed wire. One thing I did not know is they will impale a
Monarch Butterfly or a toad and wait a few days to let their toxicity
break down before eating. I didn't know that the monarch or the toad
contained toxins. Continuous learning.
Now
back to the field visit. We walked toward a small pond, about a dozen
Wilson's Snipe flew out leaving 2 Lesser Yellowlegs. We also saw
swallows. I did not think they looked like Tree Swallows and when asked
at the end of the trip, our guide was unsure. Thank goodness Bill took
photos and after Bill examined them, the swallows turned out to be
Cliff Swallows.
Once at the feeding station she
told us the young Loggerhead Shrike arrived at the age of 2 months or
older and stayed at most 2 weeks. I thought they hatched them there.
No, they come as far away as Virginia My question was how do they
know when and where to migrate, since they were born in Virginia. Answer
we don't know. The survival rate is low, she said maybe 90% of them die
before their first year is up. But normally the survival rate for any
first year birds is low.
They band them, rings
go on the right side if they are wild born and left side if they are
captive born - or maybe it is the other way round. On some of the birds
they put on a digital radio tag. She explained some of the tags have
longer antennae others have shorter. She said in her view the shorter
ones will be used more often since on recapture there was a lot of
damage done to the longer antennae. As well they used a colour code
indelible marker on them, some had a dot on their throats, some had
colouring on their chest or under their chin. This helped them identify
the birds more easily from afar. The colours have faded over the
weeks they have been released. Some of the birds stick around because
they know the food source, others just leave to parts unknown except for
those wearing a radio tag.
We spotted the
first Loggerhead Shrike high in a dead tree, she indicated the birds had
favorite perch sites. In total we saw three birds. All the birds were
on the same tree. We were brought to their feeder, a larger plastic
container with some critters, mealworms, super worms and one spider that
came in on its own. They also added mice, but there were none in the
container, I guess it had been eaten already.
Bill
and I wanted to get closer, we were allowed to go as far as one side of
an enclosure, but still not all that close and the lighting wasn't that
great. We could only go on one side of the enclosure because the two
other pens of the enclosure had 5 Loggerhead shrikes in them. Here I
thought we were going to get up close and personal, but I was wrong.
Our presence obviously disturbed them because they kept flying back and
forth. While taking photos one bird flew, again I thought they would
stay because she had indicated they were used to having people around
them.
While walking back to the group I noticed
a lot of various sizes of puff balls. I did photograph butterflies on
the Canada Thistles that were blooming. Cows don't like thistles. She
showed us a Shrike nest, she told us while it was completely built, it
was abandoned fairly quickly, maybe because of human disturbance or a
predator threat.
The field tour lasted exactly
two hours. We said our thank yous and left to bird other places. On
the way down the road we saw European Starlings and a Kestrel. While
driving down another road we saw a Peregrine Falcon.
We
first stopped at Camden Lake Provincial Wildlife Reserve. Lunch or go
up to the viewing station? Viewing station won, Bill and I saw about 7
Caspian Terns. one Double-crested Cormorant and maybe 15 or 20
Ring-billed Gulls. Way in the distance we saw one Great Egret.
Closer to the viewing station one Brown Thrasher and two Red-winged
Blackbirds. Hey Bill maybe we could play the mobbing tape, Yes said
Bill, we will do that after lunch. We all have priorities.
So
after lunch we checked out what was on the water, this time we saw 5
Mute Swans in the distance and four Common Loons. We thought of Barb C
who always looks for Common Loons. The number of Caspian Terns
increased to about 15. Bill played the tape, nothing, I mean nothing,
not even a Chickadee came in. We packed up and drove to the water where
a man and his little boy were, the man was fishing and the boy was
swimming. When we drove up the Common Loons were close, but when I got
out with my camera, they had gone a good distance away. The little boy
suggested we could wait until his Dad caught a fish, while I was talking
to them, the only thing his Dad caught were weeds.
Bill
turned the vehicle around and drove down a grass road, then we took a
path to the water. Again he played the mobbing tape, absolutely
nothing. Mind you we were playing it at the quietest time of the day,
around 1:00.
Nothing new on the water. We returned to the
vehicle and stopped at the port-a-potty, Normally I would leave the
stop out, but this port-a-potty's door would not close so it was wide
open while in use!!!! No cars came along, thank goodness
We
drove to Moscow Lake. We were followed down the short road by a four
wheeler, there goes seeing any birds, said Bill. We got out and walked a
bit. We spoke to the two boys about 12 or 14 years old. Both were
friendly and polite. During the conversation one boy said they had
found a dead owl under their boat. We showed some interest and they
asked if we wanted to see it. No not an owl but a Barred Plymouth Rock
Chicken -- pretty common chicken. While walking back to the vehicle we
saw two Leopard Frogs. The red headed boy had told us he drives the
four wheeler and he has to pay the insurance, gas and repairs out of the
money he earns, Oh what do you do, cut grass for neighbours and other
chores. We thanked the boys and left. I said to Bill, those boys are
quite responsible.
Time to head home. Slow day but birding can be like that.
Birds Noted
- Loggerhead Shrike - 4
- Mourning Dove
- American Crow
- Blue Jay
- American Goldfinch
- Wilson Snipe
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Cliff Swallow
- Canada Geese
- Kestrel
- Turkey Vulture
- Cedar Waxwings
- Mute Swan
- Common Loon
- Caspian Tern
- Ring-billed Gulls
- Double-crested Cormorant
- BrownThrasher
- Red-winged Blackbirds
- European Starlings
- Peregrine Falcon
- Rock Pigeon
Critters
- Leopard Frog
- Toad
