Shrieks from the Thorns- Watch out for Shrikes!
July is in full swing and that means Saskatchewan’s birds are busy raising their families and feeding hungry mouths! This includes one of our most unique songbirds, the Loggerhead Shrike! Nature Saskatchewan is urging residents of Saskatchewan to keep an ear out for the shrieking begging call of Shrike fledglings this month.
Loggerhead Shrikes are a threatened predatory songbird, and they make their home in Saskatchewan over the summer months to breed and raise their families. They are unique on our prairie landscape for their predatory behaviour. Lacking the sharp talons of other birds of prey, shrikes instead rely on sharp thorns to impale their prey. “One of the best ways to check if you have Shrikes around is to keep an eye out for the impalements,” Emily Putz, Habitat Stewardship Coordinator for Nature Saskatchewan's Shrubs for Shrikes program explains, "look for caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, mice, even frogs and snakes, if you see one impaled you have a shrike nearby!”
Shrikes will look for areas to nest that can support their unique behaviours. They prefer thorny shrubs such as Buffaloberry and Hawthorn, though they will use introduced shelterbelts like caragana in place of their natural habitat. They also use nearby barbed wire to hang their prey. “With Shrikes using mature shelterbelts more and more, it’s important to slow down around this time of year near shelterbelts that run parallel to grid roads,” Putz continues, “The young fledglings will be leaving their nest soon and are often attracted to roadways to hunt insects, they can’t fly well yet and road mortality is a large risk to them.”
If you are looking for ways to help this threatened species, recommendations include planting native thorny shrubs, keeping mature shelterbelts on the landscape in cropland, and of course, reporting all sightings to the Shrubs for Shrikes program. Every sighting is kept anonymous and goes towards helping recovery by informing population and range year to year. If you are a landowner with Loggerhead Shrikes on your land, we would love to have you participate! The program runs an annual “census” to monitor known nesting locations.
If you have any questions about the Shrubs for Shrikes program or would like to learn more about the Loggerhead Shrike, please contact Emily Putz at 306-780-9832 or EMAIL.