Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)

Loggerhead Shrike [ventral view of adult]. Photograph Credit: Rickey Shive; Metcalfe County, Kentucky; 26 August 2018.

Abundance:  Very Uncommon during spring, summer, and fall; Very Uncommon to Uncommon during winter; recorded in 25 Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); population trend has been negative for decades, but the negative trend became especially noticeable during the 1990s (see also High Count and Remarks [below]—and see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan); as of 2011, shrikes during all seasons sustained a more dense population in most of the southern counties of the Region (Warren, White, and DeKalb, but not Bledsoe and Van Buren), where the species could still be deemed to be Uncommon, than in all counties (except Barren County, Kentucky) to the north, where it is Very Uncommon; in the past a small increase in numbers of shrikes during winter resulted from an influx of northern migratory birds, but the degree to which this influx bolsters the Regional winter population today is probably negligible because the northern breeding population itself has decreased in numbers at a fairly rapid rate, causing the extirpation of shrikes in some states to the north and northeast of the Region.

Status: Permanent Resident; shrikes that migrate into the Region from northern breeding sites comprise an unknown, but certainly small, percentage of the Regional shrike population during winter; shrikes that migrate south of the Region during winter may comprise a part of the shrike breeding population, percentage also unknown, but probably small; migrant shrikes that pass through during spring and fall are perhaps also a part, undoubtedly small, of the Regional population during those seasons; in the past (pre-1990s) bred throughout the Region (but see also Abundance for current [2010] geographic variation in the density of the shrike population); designated as in need of management by the Tennessee Division of Natural Heritage (2004); photograph (David L. Roemer; Barren County, Kentucky; 26 April 2010).

Regional High Count and CBC High Count: 18 (17 December 1991;Putnam and White counties, Tennessee [Cookeville CBC]; m. ob.; Stedman 1993).  SBC/SBB High Count: 9 (9 May 1992; Putnam County, Tennessee; m. ob.; Stedman 1993), but see also Remarks (below).  Note: recurrence of these high counts is unlikely, given the serious decrease in shrike numbers taking place since the early 1990s.

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent).  Recent breeding evidence in the Region is scarce.  During summer 2003 a pair with several young was noted on Student's Home Rd., DeKalb County, Tennessee (Judy C. Fuson et al.); a pair fledged young at the same site during the summers of 2004–2007 and during 2007 a second pair was noted nearby (Judy C. Fuson et al.).  In Warren County, Tennessee, a pair with two begging juveniles was noted 10 June 2007 on Mason Grissom Rd. (Susan N. McWhirter). In White County, Tennessee, a pair was seen entering a red cedar repeatedly 20 April 2007 (Leonardo Chavez, Stephen J. Stedman). In Bledsoe County, Tennessee, a pair and four immatures were noted on Oxier Hollow Rd. during August 2008 (Stephen J. Stedman et al.). Otherwise, breeding in the Region has mostly been inferred from the presence of birds from mid-March, when the breeding period begins, into mid-summer.

Habitat: Open country with hedgerows or scattered clumps of dense shrubbery, especially Eastern red cedar and thorn-bearing shrubs such as Multiflora rose; cedars 3–5 m in height often used as nest sites.  Clearing of roadside hedgerows, "clean" farming practices, conversion of pastures from native grasses to fescue, and pesticide contamination are all possibly implicated in this species' long-term decline, as well as factors as yet undetected and unsuspected.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 2 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 11 (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004; all registrations came from the same site, an agricultural area with cedar-dominated fencerows on Student's Home Rd., DeKalb County, Tennessee, indicating that this species is Rare and Very Uncommon, respectively, in Regional yards and neighborhoods, a result that is reasonably consistent with the overall Regional abundance classification, especially for 2004.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: For some counties and other sites, the most recent records are a decade or more old.  For instance, within the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, the most recent shrike records date back to the mid-1980s; despite intensive surveying in that park from 1994 to 2006, no sightings of shrikes took place (Stedman and Stedman 2002; S. Stedman pers. data).  In part this reduction in shrike sightings results from continuing afforestation in that park, but the total absence of shrikes cannot be completely explained by this habitat change, because a moderate amount of suitable habitat for shrikes still exists there.

    Long-term, robust datasets of bird population numbers would appear to be among the best windows through which to view the decreasing abundance of shrikes in the Region.  Unfortunately, few such datasets exist.  One long-term, but not robust, set is represented by data from the Cookeville CBC, which has been conducted in early winter of most years since the winter of 1957–1958.  Shrike numbers on the Cookeville CBC 1957–1990 vary irregularly from 0–9 and probably reveal a slow decrease in the species' numbers in the county (Stedman 1993).  However, since 1991 (the year of the Regional High Count [above]), numbers of shrikes registered on Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee, CBCs, although continuing to be irregular, reveal a greater rate of decrease than the decrease taking place in earlier years, as indicated by data for CBCs conducted 1992–2006 (15 years): 5, 2, 4, 5 ,1, 0, 2, 1, 6, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0.  Perhaps not coincidentally, numbers of shrikes registered on Putnam County, Tennessee, Spring Bird Counts during the same general period reveal a similar decrease 1992–2007 (16 years): 9, 4, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0, 0.  More arresting even than data resulting from CBCs and Spring Bird Counts in Putnam County, Tennessee, since the early 1990s have been results from a 500-stop roadside survey conducted in the same county (Stedman 1993; S. Stedman and B. Stedman unpubl. data).  This survey—conducted in 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011 during January of each year and conducted in 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006 during June of each year—resulted in the following numbers of shrikes collectively registered at 500 points (surveyed for 4 minutes each): January (17, 3, 0, 0, 0) and June (15, 2, 0, 0); the data for January and June are virtually isomorphic, revealing a steep, statistically significant, decrease in the county's shrike population during the 1990s, a decrease that is largely concordant with decreases evidenced throughout the range of this intriguing species.

    Another long-term dataset that features information relevant to the population decrease of Loggerhead Shrikes in the Upper Cumberland is represented by the results of the Glasgow CBC in Barren County, Kentucky.  This CBC has been conducted during more than 60 years dating back to December 1936, and results have been published in the "Mid-Winter Bird Counts" in The Kentucky Warbler. Total shrikes registered on this CBC during the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were 21, 45, 13, and 8, respectively, testifying to a considerable decrease in the species' population in that county since the 1970s.  Gordon (1962: 19) designated the shrike as "rare" (without defining the term) in south-central Kentucky, but CBC data from the 1950s for Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, suggest that its population was greater than that designation usually indicates in the years just before Gordon's work was published, and the shrike was even more common during the 1960s than during the 1950s in that area.

    All records of the shrike in the Region from the winter of 2001–2002 to the fall of 2011 are accessible via this link:

• UCR Shrike Data since Winter of 2001–2002

    The shrike's behavior of impaling small prey items on sharp natural or human-made objects, thus "storing" them for future meals, has been documented in the Region, as evidenced by these photographs:

• salamander/lizard prey item from DeKalb County, Tennessee (28 April 2004; Judy C. Fuson)
• anuran prey item from Barren County, Kentucky (14 October 2011; Stephen J. Stedman)

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited