loggerhead shrike

noun

1. a common, North American shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, gray above and white below with black wings, tail, and facial mask.

Word History and Origins

Origin of loggerhead shrike¹

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15

Example Sentences

An estimated 25 bird species, including ladder-backed woodpeckers, loggerhead shrikes and western screech owls, nest in their trunks and branches.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The fire also swept through parts of the island that have rare habitats for sensitive plant and animal species found nowhere else, such as the endangered San Clemente loggerhead shrike, a carnivorous songbird.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

You have just imitated a hunting loggerhead shrike, long considered one of North America’s more ghoulish songbirds for the way it impales its prey carcasses on thorns and barbed wire.

Read more on Washington Post

In the sagebrush, he found a loggerhead shrike, green-tailed towhee and prairie falcon.

Read more on Washington Times

On a less positive note, northern bobwhite, American kestrels and loggerhead shrikes continued to decline in most regions.

Read more on Washington Times