What is the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program? After a precipitous drop in the wild eastern loggerhead shrike population in the 1990s, Environment Canada invited Wildlife Preservation Canada to lead the multi-partner recovery effort in 2003. Since then, the wild population size has fluctuated. Studies have shown that although the recovery effort has prevented the species from disappearing from Canada, more work is required to identify and address the causes of the species’ decline. WPC works to prevent the eastern loggerhead shrike from disappearing by building the wild population in Ontario, and studying the species to learn more about the threats they face.
Every sighting of a loggerhead shrike is an exciting one, even more so when the bird is banded. But resightings of banded birds that were released through our conservation breeding program are extra exciting to us! This is because so much care and effort is dedicated to each bird by a vast team of people, across two countries, over a long period of time, to ensure that we are releasing fit birds that will bolster the dwindling wild population of eastern loggerhead shrikes. See the journey (Fig 1) and read the story of one such shrike below!
On March 29, 2025, a report of a banded loggerhead shrike was relayed to Wildlife Preservation Canada (WPC) through a series of email communications. A group of birders with the Northern Virginia Bird Club had spotted a shrike at Manassas Battlefield Park in Virginia, determined part of its leg band combination and even had the photos to prove it! Not only did they post the sighting to eBird (which our shrike recovery team closely keeps track of), but one member of the club went through the effort of reporting their observations to someone they knew was involved with the program, which then made its way to the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Team. We are so thankful to community science citizens who volunteer their time and effort to aid recovery and conservation efforts!
Fig 1: The approximate route of a banded eastern loggerhead shrike which hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (Hatch) in the spring of 2024, was transported (red track) to Ontario and released in Napanee (Release) at the end of the summer, then migrated south (yellow track) to be spotted again in Manassas VA (Sighting).
The banded shrike recorded at Manassas Battlefield Park had been hatched on May 6, 2024 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), which interestingly is only about 65 km (40 miles) from where it was resighted! Genetically matched pairs of loggerhead shrikes are mated under the careful husbandry of NZCBI each spring, producing conservation-bred young. This young bird was cared for by its parents in captivity and then transported north to Ontario to be acclimated to its wild surroundings, assessed and released. It was bestowed with the colour band combination “silver over yellow on the left leg, white over red on the right leg” or SI/YE:WH/RD for short. It was successfully released on the Napanee Plain, one of the only locations where wild eastern loggerhead shrikes can still be consistently found, on August 20, 2024. I have included a photo (Fig 2) of the shrike during pre-release checks in Napanee, nearly ready to explore the wild world!
Fig 2: The juvenile eastern loggerhead shrike later spotted near Manassas, Virginia, in bander’s grip during pre-release checks at WPC’s Napanee release site. The bands on the left leg are visible here; silver above yellow. Photo: Jane Spero/WPC.
After being released, WPC staff continue to monitor the shrikes until they are no longer found in the area. At that point, it is unknown exactly what happens to the birds! We trust that instinct and upbringing will be sufficient for the birds to find their way south for the winter, and hopefully back up to breed in Ontario in the spring. We have some idea of their migratory route from the subset that we release equipped with Motus radio-transmitters. Loggerhead shrikes begin southward migration by either moving west along the northern shore of Lake Ontario to cross into the U.S. past the lake’s west bank, crossing at the mouth of the St.Lawrence River near Kingston, or even flying straight across the great lake. We have few data points thus far to inform us of their ventures over the winter in the U.S., which is what makes each observation of a loggerhead shrike from the program so important!
Fig 3: A photo relayed to the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program by Ed LeGrand, who co-led the birdwalk that spotted this banded loggerhead shrike. The bands visible here are silver over yellow on the left leg. Photo: Larry Meade – President, Northern Virginia Bird Club, 2025.
The sighting reported (Fig 3) by the Northern Virginia Bird Club was the first for this individual bird (https://ebird.org/checklist/S221570382). Though only part of its band combination was seen on the first visit, later visits by other eBirders confirmed the remainder of the bands as SI/YE:WH/RD (https://ebird.org/checklist/S221590298; https://ebird.org/checklist/S221674917). This sighting is the third from the cohort of conservation-bred loggerhead shrikes hatched in 2024 to be spotted again after release! One was seen on Amherst Island in September 2024, another in Maryland in December 2024, both of which were promptly reported to WPC.
As a reminder to anyone who spots a loggerhead shrike (or even what you think might be a northern shrike!) in Ontario, Quebec or the Maritimes –or a banded loggerhead shrike anywhere– please email us at birds@wildlifepreservation.ca. Sightings such as these are why we love what we do, and are proud to be helping conserve such a rare and unique species!
Helmi Hess
Acting Lead Biologist – Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery
Helmi joined the WPC loggerhead shrike team in 2023 from a background in wildlife biology, rehabilitation and education. She has worked in grassland and aquatic avian research across Canada since 2015, with species including savannah sparrows, chestnut-collared longspurs and American dippers. Helmi has co-authored peer-reviewed papers in both avian physiology through the University of Guelph and in ecotoxicology through the University of British Columbia.
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