Northern Shrike: I Eat Tweety Birds for Breakfast!

Yup, that’s what Northern Shrikes do! After catching said bird, a shrike will sometimes impale the songbird on barbed wire to store its catch for a later meal. Ouch! May not sound nice, but it’s Mother Nature at work.

Found this Northern Shrike twice today  at the exact same spot on Scenic 61 about 1/2 mile north of the Lakewood Pumping Station. Work the tops of the pine trees on the lake side from the Northern Shores Townhomes to the Inn on Gitche Gumee. The shrike would tend to perch of the very tops of the pines, and then dive bomb to the trees lower down below the cliff’s edge. I assume it was attacking songbirds. I saw the bird immediately after church around 12:00 noon, and I took this photo at 4:00 pm … same exact stretch of shoreline. Thus, there is pretty good chance it will be around in the same area on Monday morning.

Y3-M01-Northern-Shrike-1 Y3-M01-Northern-Shrike-2

One thought on “Northern Shrike: I Eat Tweety Birds for Breakfast!

  1. Central WI We have so many raptors now, I see Hawks nearly daily after the songbirds in our yard. Must admit, my affection for them is fleeing!

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