MACLAREN RIVER — Most of us have seen northern shrikes, though few know what sort of bird they are. The shrike species common to Alaska is properly called the northwestern shrike. I grew up calling them "butcher birds."
Butcher birds come by their nickname honestly. They prey on mice and small birds, often hanging their catch in the crotch of a willow or on a barbed wire fence if one happens to be available. When mice are plentiful, shrikes may have a dozen or more hanging near their hunting perches.
They may or may not return to eat the excess prey, depending on hunting success. In contrast to other birds of prey, shrikes have weak legs and poor talons. Their weapon is a strong, sharply hooked beak. Like all birds of prey, they are bold, aggressive hunters. They have been known to strike at birds as large as a mallard — though it's doubtful a butcher bird could manage a duck of any kind.
Northwestern shrikes generally hunt close to the ground. One sees them working willow thickets and the edges of meadows. Voles are the favored prey, although white-crowned sparrows and juncos are also high on the menu, especially later in the season. Shrikes are extremely adept flyers too, able to pick grasshoppers out of the air. I watched one chasing a dragonfly on an August afternoon, though without success.
Shrikes nest early and stay late. The Denali Highway has nesting pairs by early June. Adults and first-season birds can be seen along the Denali well into October. I suspect that in a rare instance a bird or two may over winter in the Glennallen area. Fairbanks has recorded several January sightings over the years.
Butcher birds range throughout Alaska. They breed as far west as Adak Island and northeast into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Wherever there are small birds and enough brush to nest, there will be shrikes.
Nests are easily found. Similar to a magpie nest, they are bulky affairs constructed of brush and twigs. Four or five young birds hatch after a 16-day incubation period. Young birds fledge quickly and are hunting on their own by mid-August.
Youngsters go their separate ways. Shrikes are solitary birds, only seen in pairs during breeding season.
Easily identifiable, in addition to the heavy hooked beak, shrikes have a distinct black stripe through their eye. The breast is an off- white, the back is mostly gray, (brownish in young birds), and the wings show black in flight.
The only bird that may provide some initial confusion is the gray jay, or camp robber. Jays are similar in color and size, but lack the sleekness and direct flight of the shrike. Also, jays prefer spruce timber cover, while shrikes are more comfortable in open country.
The Denali Highway is one of the best locales to spot these interesting birds of prey. They frequent roadside willows, chasing sparrows and migrating redpolls. A few years ago, a researcher from stateside studied the shrikes along the Denali Highway during the nesting season. He had a study grant, but after two weeks of fruitless search, gave up on the Denali and went elsewhere to do his nesting study.
I have to admit, I never saw a bird during his stay, but within a few days of his leaving, butcher birds were everywhere. Most birds can be found by song, but shrikes have nothing that is easily identifiable; silent most of the time, they make occasional indeterminate cawing, scraping noises. During late fall, after the leaves have dropped, I have heard the birds whistle and make melodious trills. Maybe they're happy because hunting is easy?
This hunting season, when the caribou are over the next ridge and the moose only have ears instead of a rack, take a moment to enjoy and appreciate the success of a master hunter — Alaska's northwestern shrike.
John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.