[CT Birds] Shrike Stories

[Clay Taylor]

Steve -

I marvel at what treasures you mine from your CBC spreadsheet.   Keep it up!

As for Loggerhead Shrikes, there was one that overwintered in Old Lyme on Rt
154 by the powerlines and Old Salem Turnpike.   The horse farm there was
named Cricklewood Farms back then, and Jay Hand and I used to keep track of
it.    It was initially called the "Cricklewood Farms Shrike", but after a
while we actually named it "Shrikey".

It was present for at least two or three consecutive winters, but never made
it onto the CBC data because its "patch" was in between the Salmon River and
Old Lyme CBCs.

The last Loggerhead Shrike I ever saw in CT was a bird I banded one August
at Hammonasset Beach S.P., while I worked at the Meig's Point Nature Center.
That would have been either 1986 or 1987.    It was using my mist net poles
as a vantage point, flying down to catch crickets and grasshoppers, then
back up to the top of the pole to dine on its meal, avoiding the mist nets
as it did.    The bird was driving me crazy, but I didn't want to try and
scare it into the net, for fear it would simply leave the area.

Having one of those "Eureka!" moments you read about other people having, I
ran over to the sand dunes behind the beach and caught a few of those large,
white-sand-colored grasshoppers that live on the dunes.   I tied a piece of
black thread to the thorax of each grasshopper, and tied the "bait" into the
middle of each mist net.    I had no sooner returned to the Nature Center,
when the shrike was squawking and fussing in the mist net.   Cool!   I have
to say that bird was THE noisiest, wildest bird I have ever handled - like a
big chickadee with a hooked beak!    It even struggled and squawked when we
put it into the holding can for weighing - most every bird I have ever
handled will calm down when you place them in a snug, dark place - even
goshawks.   Not this one!     We took a few photos, and released it.  It was
seen later that day over by Williard's Island, but not re-found the next
day.

Shrike on,

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Linda & Steve Broker" <ls.broker at cox.net>
To: "CTBIRDSGROUP BIRDS" <ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org>
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: [CT Birds] Shrike Question


> On Shrikes:
>
> The Christmas Bird Count season, now defined as December 14 through
> January 5, represents a limited slice of early winter.  There
> obviously is a lot more that takes place during Connecticut's winter
> season than is represented by this three week period.  Nevertheless,
> it's interesting to look at the CBC data for shrike and see how the
> numbers play out over the course of the last half-century.
>
> The huge shrike incursion referred to by Mark Szantyr undoubtedly was
> the winter of 1995-96, when a total of 67 Northern Shrikes was
> recorded on Connecticut Christmas Bird Counts.  This is far and away
> the biggest shrike incursion on record since 1950, at least as
> suggested by CBC data.  The winter of 1999-2000 ranks second for
> numbers of shrikes counted on Connecticut CBCs, with 24 total.
> During the current (2007-08) winter's CBCs, 16 Northern Shrikes were
> reported, the third highest total since 1950.  The only other double
> digit shrike year was 1978-79, when 14 Northern Shrikes were counted
> on Connecticut CBCs.
>
> Dividing Connecticut's statewide CBC data into northern, mid-state,
> and coastal subtotals - that is, the 6 northern CBCs, 5 mid-state
> CBCs, and 7 coastal CBCs - the picture gets somewhat more
> interesting.  This winter, 12 of 16 Northern Shrikes were seen on
> northern counts and just 2 each were seen on mid-state and coastal
> counts.  We can reasonably call this a shrike incursion year, but it
> helps if you have been birding in the northern parts of the state
> (again, based only on CBC data).  The winters of 1978-79 and
> 1999-2000 had somewhat more equal distribution of shrikes on CBCs
> throughout the state:  5 northern, 4 mid-state, and 5 coastal in
> 1978-79; 12 northern, 7 mid-state, and 5 coastal in 1999-2000.  Most
> interestingly, the incursion year of 1995-96 had Northern Shrike
> found well-distributed throughout Connecticut, with 31 recorded on
> northern CBCs, 16 on mid-state CBCs, and 20 on coastal CBCs.  A
> statewide incursion, indeed!
>
> Zeranski and Baptist (1990) states, "[d]uring the winters of
> 1921-1922, 1926-1927, 1930-1931, and 1949-1950 large numbers [of
> Northern Shrikes] were reported in southern New England."  My Excel
> spreadsheets have not yet been extended back to the first half of the
> 20th century, so I can't comment on these winters.  I'll leave it to
> others to use BirdSource on-line data to see what these CBC years
> were like.
>
> The other half of the shrike equation in Connecticut is Loggerhead
> Shrike.  Remember them?  During the period 1950-51 through 1979-80,
> Connecticut CBCs recorded 41 Loggerhead Shrikes while counting 94
> Northern Shrikes during the same period.  From 1 to 4 Loggerhead
> Shrikes were seen in most years up to the earliest 1980s.  The last
> Loggerhead Shrike seen on a Connecticut CBC was on the New Haven
> Christmas Bird Count in mid-December 1984.  While I don't
> specifically remember, this may have been the bird that was hanging
> out at the Tire Pond in Hamden, edge of the Quinnipiac Marshes.  That
> bird I specifically remember.  It's the last Loggerhead Shrike I've
> seen in Connecticut.  Again from Zeranski and Baptist:  "[Loggerhead
> Shrike] decreased as a migrant and winter visitor in the 1970s and
> 1980s, and its nesting range retreated westward to western New York
> state."
>
> Steve Broker
> Cheshire
>
>
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