>>On Mon, 1 Dec 1997, Michael Price wrote:
> Do they compete? What would Loggerheads--which I've always understood as
> being more insectivorous than Northerns--live on in such harsh conditions
as
> a Plains winter affords? >>

As for the Plains winters, at least in Northwestern Missouri and my former
home turf as a budding birder of my youth, the Loggerhead Shrike is the usual
and expected species year round while the Northern Shrike is quite the rare
exception. Even when the place is frozen solid, blanketed in deep crusted
snow, and temperatures at -20, one still finds the Loggerhead Shrike. They
seem to make due on small mammals (mice, voles, and shrews) as much as or more
so than the smallest birds. The Loggerhead Shrike is declining over much of
it's range, and especially in the Midwest and Plains states, the reasons for
which are still unclear.

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)
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God was my co-pilot,
but when we crashed in the mountains,
I had to eat him :-))
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