Shriking a Pose

Fond as I am of them, I tend to think of Loggerhead Shrikes as rather stolid birds, hunkered down on the wires and patiently waiting for something juicy to reveal itself in the ditch beneath.

Large numbers of shrikes are migrating through southeast Arizona right now, and today we found many in the Sulphur Springs Valley, including a beautiful individual perched near Willcox’s Lake Cochise. As we admired it, it suddenly launched into the air, flew almost vertically a good 75 feet, and fell like lead shot, swooping at the last minute to regain its perch. I suspect that it was a failed attempt at flycatching, but empty-handed or not, the bird took our breath away, and instantly became one of those canonical images that make up “the species” in my mind.