"Butcher Bird"

 

January 26^th

          NEMESIS BIRD FOUND!  Mike and I have been searching high and low for a Northern Shrike and we finally found one this morning at Magee Marsh.  Northern Ohio is the southernmost winter range for the shrike, and they are quite scarce here. They nest in open spruce woods in the far north and winter in open habitats with scattered bushes or trees further south.

          The Northern Shrike catches and kills a wide variety of prey including insects, lizards, mice, frogs, and small birds.  Shrikes are fierce predators known as “butcher birds”.  They can grasp a mouse by the neck with their pointed beak, pinch the spinal cord causing paralysis, then shake it with enough force to break its neck.  They often gruesomely impale their sometimes-live prey on sharp objects like spikes, thorns, or barbed wire.  This stabilizes their victim so they can tear off pieces more easily.  It is also a way to stash food for later use.

          Our second bird of the day was a Common Redpoll which we found at Wyandot Wetland Meadows Preserve near Sandusky.  There was a large flock of about 60 redpolls feeding on Alder catkins.  A Common Redpoll is a type of finch that eats seeds from birch, willow, alder, spruce, and pines.  It is known as an irruptive species.  This means that if their food supply (seeds) is limited in the boreal forest, they periodically migrate much further south in winter to search for food.  (2 new species, total 113)

          Northern Shrike (scarce)

          Common Redpoll (scarce)

                                                        Northern Shrike

                                                    Common Redpoll