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A Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Team was formed in 1992 and produced a recovery plan in 1994. In 1996, the group divided into a western team for the threatened western subspecies and an eastern team for the endangered eastern subspecies. The eastern team completed a recovery strategy for the bird in 2001.

A key part of the recovery strategy involves the formation of Recovery Action Groups (RAGs) for each of the six core areas where shrikes have been found. Each group is responsible for coordinating shrike recovery in its area. RAGs may organize habitat stewardship work bees, or outreach and education programs for schools, community groups, farming organizations, naturalist clubs — whatever work they think may benefit shrikes in their area.

Each RAG may include biologists, conservationists, birders and representatives of local, provincial or national government agencies. But the most important members of RAGs are landowners, because virtually all known shrike habitat in Canada is on private property. Without the cooperation and participation of landowners, shrike recovery would be practically impossible.

The work of RAG members may include habitat stewardship activities. Since shrinking habitat is the biggest problem facing shrikes, habitat stewardship is one of the most significant parts of the recovery effort. Habitat stewardship can take many forms that will vary from location to location. In some core areas it may entail thinning shrubs or clearing trees. Somewhere else it might mean building fences. In other areas -- particularly in Manitoba -- it might mean planting trees. All this work is done by volunteers brought together by the RAG.


In 1997 and 1998, 43 Eastern Loggerhead Shrike nestlings were captured, and two breeding populations were established at the Toronto Zoo and at McGill University in Montreal. In 1998, the first breeding occurred, and the captive population now numbers more than 100.

Birds raised through this program could be used to re-establish populations in the wild once the causes of the decline are understood and can be eliminated or controlled. An experimental field breeding and release program was launched in 2001 to discover the best methods of releasing shrikes. Since then, 221 shrikes have been released to the wild. In 2005, a captive-bred female released the previous year was discovered on Carden Plain, tending a nest of six young. In 2006, another captive-bred female returned to Carden to successfully breed with a wild male. This is exciting proof that captive-bred birds can migrate, over-winter and return to enter the wild breeding population.


The colour banding study was initiated in 1999 and since then close to 1000 shrikes have been banded. Another important recovery initiative is colour banding, in which tiny bracelet-like rings are loosely secured around the birds' legs. The colour patterns on the ring identify the bird and where and when it was released. If the bird later shows up somewhere else — whether it's in another core area in Canada, or thousands of kilometres south in the United States — the bands will help researchers learn more about the shrike's behaviour and migration habits.

If you're a birder and you spot a colour-banded shrike with your spotting scope, be sure to report it by calling its toll-free number, 1-800-956-6608. The birds could be anywhere in North America at any time.


The Eastern Loggerhead Shrike is protected under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act of 1917
and by various provincial endangered species legislation. The federal Species at Risk Act supports shrike recovery.



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Manitoba update Winter 2004-05