ThinkingAfield.org

by Doug Reeves, assistant chief, DNR Wildlife Division 

I was outside, headed back to the house, when I heard a bird song that seemed to be a jumble of various noises. It was not a clear, predictable song, and much of it was what I would call a racket – sounding like a disturbed or distressed bird – but it was one that I had heard several times before. I knew it was a northern shrike. This makes the fourth year in a row that we have had at least one shrike visit our 40 acres. Previously, they were rare visitors that stopped in for a short time and then disappeared just as quickly. Lately they have been staying for prolonged periods. That may be because the mix of fields and brush suits them very well now.

Northern shrikes have a subtle beauty, being varying shades of gray, white and black. The blocky head, black eye stripe and hooked beak are important identification marks. They tend to be quite visible much of the time, setting on electric lines, the tops of trees and other conspicuous places. My experience has been that they arrive around the first of December and are gone by mid-February. They seem to prefer old fields and brushy areas here. Michigan is in the midst of the wintering region for this bird. Northern shrikes nest in the far northern subarctic forests and tundra. They only go as far south as they have to in winter, which means they don’t go much below mid-Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in this region. [Northern shrike photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] Read more