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Florida Gardening

Help in identifying a bird

Patty Bee Port St. Lucie Zone 10A

7 years ago

If there's a better place to post this, let me know.
Suddenly I'm seeing a little bird that's smaller than a mockingbird, with what appears to be a black and gray back with a black mask across his eyes, a black beak and a breast that's almost white. He's always seen at the very top of a tall but dead tree, so my binoculars can only ever see him from his underside.

Featured Answer

dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)

7 years ago

Great grey shrike?

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Comments (10)

dirtygardener73
7 years ago
Maybe a Carolina Chickadee. They tend to stay to the tops of trees.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_Chickadee/id
Patty Bee Port St. Lucie Zone 10A thanked dirtygardener73
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carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
7 years ago
Might be a warbler as well - or a downy woodpecker. Very hard to say w/o a pic.
Patty Bee Port St. Lucie Zone 10A
Original Author
7 years ago
I believe it is a loggerhead shrike.
dirtygardener73
7 years ago
Ooh! Pretty!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
7 years ago
We have them around here - they are fierce little predators!
ritaweeda
7 years ago
Shrikes will find a barbed wire spike or large thorn and impale their prey on it for future meals. When I was a kid I would see bugs and caterpillars sticking on the barbed-wire and wonder why until I saw the bird do it.
Patty Bee Port St. Lucie Zone 10A
Original Author
7 years ago
Is this bird a year-round resident which I am only now seeing, or is it a winter visitor?
tcgardener Zone 10a SE Florida
7 years ago
We camped at the Ortona Locks outside of Labelle last year. There was a pair of these Shrikes working our campsite every evening. For a small bird they were quite the predators, dragonflies and small lizards were on the menu and yes they did pin them on the small tree branches.
garden_gal_fl (z10)
7 years ago
The shrikes are year round for me in Fort Myers, but they sometimes get into territorial disputes with other birds and have to find another spot.
Patty Bee Port St. Lucie Zone 10A thanked garden_gal_fl (z10)

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