Article Abstract:
Details of the successful breeding of a pair of hand-reared loggerhead shrikes are recounted. Courtship behavior and forming of the pair bond occurredat 10 months of age. Two clutches were laid, with hatching occurring asynchronously in the first clutch. None of the nestlings from the first clutchsurvived, but two from the second did, and were taken for hand rearing. Incubation of the eggs ranged from 16 to 19 days. The poor nestling survival was attributed to inadequate parental care by the male, who is responsible for feeding the female and the brood immediately after hatching.
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Article Abstract:
The lack of an important association between the density of ant mounds and shrike territory size, prey capture rate, and percent of total time in flight indicates a rare correlation. An identical correlation which can be caused by absolutely different reasons is also discovered. Monocultural agriculture, modern silvicultural practices, the elimination of fencelines and hedgerows, pesticide spraying, and predation are significant problems which need to be resolved before finding the cause for the decrease in the population of the Loggerhead Shrikes of the Midwest.
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Article Abstract:
Around 162 nests were observed to evaluate the nesting habitats and nesting sites of the loggerhead shrike in the semi-arid conditions of southwest Idaho's sagebrush. Sagebrush comprised 106 nests, 33 nests were in bitterbrush, 20 were in greasewood, two in four-wing saltbush and a single nest was in a tumbleweed mound. No substantial differences showed for nest dimensions between initial and second attempts, although second nests were higher than the original.
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