Loggerhead Shrike

Description: 8-10" A bit smaller than Northern Shrike, slightly darker gray above, white below, with black face-mask extending over heavy hooked bill, black wings and tail, bluish-gray back and head	Habitat: Open brushy areas, meadows, pastures, orchards, thickets along roads, hedges. More common in the western portion of its range. Prefers low, unconspicuous perches.
Nesting: 4-6 white eggs spotted with gray and brown, in a bulky mass of twigs and grasses, lined with down and feathers set in a thorny shrub or tree	Range: breeds from central Canada southward throughout the US, winters in southern half of breeding range, major decline in northeast
Voice: variety of harsh musical notes and trills, a thrasher-like series of double phrases	Diet: Mostly large insects, especially in west including especially birds, mice, lizards.

Notes: Lacking talons other raptors have, it stuns or kills other flying birds with a blow from its powerful beak; often caches prey by impaling on plant spine or barbed wire-leading to the common name "butcher bird, excellent vision, will sit motionless four extended periods watching for prey, loss of habitat and pesticides blamed for recent decline

When present in Oklahoma: fairly abundant year-round in all of the state