The Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, is slightly smaller (8-10") than the Northern Shrike. The head and back are a bluish-gray, white below, with black face mask extending over the bill.

The call is a variety of harsh and musical notes and trills; a thrasher-like series of double phrases.

The Loggerhead inhabits grassland, orchards, and open areas with scattered trees; open grassy woodlands, deserts in the West. It breeds from southern British Columbia, central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, southern Ontario and southern Quebec, south throughout the United States. It winters in the southern half of its breeding range.

The nest is a bulky mass of twigs and grass lined with plant down and feathers and set in a thorny shrub or tree. There the female lays 4-6 white eggs, spotted with gray and brown.

The Loggerhead feeds mainly on large insects such as locusts. In cold weather, when insects are hard to find, it will hunt small birds or mice. When hunting is good, it stores excess food by impaling it on thorns, barbed wire, or the like, which explains its old name, "Butcher Bird."

Class: Aves | Order: Passeriformes | Family: Laniidae | Genus: Lanius

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