I took a couple of pictures of Mockingbirds in my backyard today and once I downloaded them, I realized I had a couple of pic's that weren't the Northern Mockingbird because of the hooked beak. I looked through my bird book and the closest I can come is the Loggerhead Shrike but when I looked photo's on the internet they all look smaller and have more white. Help in identifying this little fella is greatly appreciated! I will post three consecutive photo's.
Another ...
Last where you can see the hooked beak
Yep...Loggerhead Shrike. Looks like a young bird so it appears dingy-it'll lighten up as an adult.
An easy way to differentiate between this guy and a Mockingbird, even if it's pretty far away, is to watch the wingbeats as it flies off. You could count the beats of a Mockingbird-Shrike wingbeats are much too fast to count.
Thanks Ned! After I uploaded the photo's I realized it wasn't a Mockingbird by the beak but I'd never seen a Shrike before so wasn't certain. Thanks for the ID!
Lin
cool! i've never seen one in person.
