To us “civilized” mammals, some animal behavior can sometimes be construed as downright gruesome. There are behaviors that have been observed by animals in which even the most avid naturalist has been ...

Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad III, was prince of Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1477. Wallachia was a region of Europe that eventually become present-day Romania. A ferocious warrior, Vlad was ...

One might think of this 9-inch-long bird with a 12-inch wingspan and snappy black mask as a typical songbird, but the loggerhead shrike has a bit of an edge. It is a consummate hunter. Loggerhead ...

Like eagles and falcons, shrikes are birds of prey. However, they aren’t raptors, but are songbirds. Though shrikes have a sharp, hooked beak, they are small and have weak legs. The little shrike ...

Ten loggerhead shrikes hatched last month at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Va. These genetically valuable chicks will be the first SCBI-hatched shrikes to be ...

If you venture along the fence lines of a Missouri farm, you might spot something unusual: Dead mice and snakes impaled on ...

The sight startled us. A savannah sparrow hanging limp and lifeless from a sharp-pointed spike on a barbed-wire fence lining a farm field. Had it snagged its own neck on the spike? Not likely. More ...

Bite a mouse in the back of the neck and don’t let go. Now shake your head at a frenzied 11 turns per second, as if saying “No, no, no, no, no!” You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike ...

Is there a member of your extended family that doesn’t seem to fit in with everyone else? You know, the uncle that tells inappropriate jokes, an offensive cousin that wears the same clothes too many ...

Heidi L. Michaels, Jack F. Cully, Jr. This study was conducted to determine landscape and fine-scale vegetative variables associated with breeding Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) on Fort ...

To the editor: The bird in the photo that accompanied your article appears to be a loggerhead shrike. (“Rowdy input on desert plan,” Oct. 14) These are uncommon birds; in fact, in 52 years of living ...

The ability to link breeding and wintering sites of declining or threatened species is fundamental to their effective conservation, but previous conventional methods such as banding have proved ...