This striking songbird is best known for its habit of impaling prey on thorns and barbed wire, or wedging items in a v-shaped branch for easier handling and storage.

The Loggerhead shrike breeds in open habitats east of the Cascades where they are rare but regular in the winter, especially at low-elevation sites.

They are uncommon and declining in northeast Oregon. West of the Cascades, there are usually a few records each year during fall, winter, and spring in open habitats of the coast and the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue valleys.

The Loggerhead shrike is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the Blue Mountains and Columbia Plateau ecoregions.

Hear the song of the Loggerhead shrike

Photo by Dave Menke, USFWS