Professor David Bird and his feisty little friend PHOTO: CLIFF SKARSTEDT

Saving loggerhead shrikes no flight of fancy for Bird

BRONWYN CHESTER | They aren't cuddly like baby seals, cute like belugas or noble like the peregrine falcon, but they are eccentric -- even verging on the ghoulish -- and natural resource sciences professor David Bird hopes that will give them the edge they need in order to survive. For it's a fact of life in the domain of endangered species that the weirder, more exotic or more endearing the animal, the greater the chance of appealing to the public's imagination, and the greater the outcry to save the species. Sometimes known as "butcherbirds" for their habit of impaling their prey on thorns or barbs, the loggerhead shrike, only the size of a robin, is the avian equivalent of the pitbull. Thanks to its powerful hooked bill, mice, snakes, small birds, frogs and grasshoppers all make it onto the menu. However, unlike its cousins, the raptors, this passerine, or songbird, isn't equipped with talons with which to hold its victim while devouring it. Hence the need for thorns. And hence, perhaps, the reason why its numbers have diminished. Which brings Bird, a wildlife biologist and the director of Macdonald Campus's Avian Science and Conservation Centre, onto the scene. Bird, known to many for his weekly bird column in The Gazette and for his role in saving the peregrine falcon, is a member of the Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Plan, along with representatives of the Metro Toronto Zoo, Bird Studies Canada, the World Wildlife Fund in Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Because little is known about Lanius ludovicianus migrans -- sadly, Joni Mitchell's adage: "You don't know what you've got till it's gone," or, at least, almost gone, applies all too aptly to this bird -- no one knows for sure why the shrike's numbers have dropped so dramatically. Five years ago, there were 50 pairs in Ontario; now there are 30. And in Quebec, where this eastern subspecies of loggerhead shrike used to thrive, there are believed to be none. (The western subspecies, found west of Manitoba, is considered threatened, but not endangered.) No one knows exactly where, for instance, in the southern United States or Mexico this bird winters, so speculation regarding migration factors causing the bird's demise, such as a possible decrease in food due to pesticides, remains speculation. Likewise, the shrike's vulnerability to pesticides or herbicides in its northeastern environment, which is largely concentrated in the Napanee, Smith Falls and Carden areas of Ontario, is unknown. What is known, however, is that this feisty little bird requires a very particular environment: well-grazed land, so that they may spot their prey and the presence of thornbushes. Bird speculates that the decline in the dairy industry and the subsequent renaturalization of that land or its subdivision into housing may explain the shrike's dramatic demise. Roadkill may also be a factor: "Young birds get smacked by cars because the nests are frequently by roadsides where the hawthorn bushes grow and where insects are abundant," says Bird. Furthermore, he adds, there are some landowners who would like to see the birds off their property -- and set out to accomplish this any way they can. Why such apparent cruelty? Ironically, the status of endangered species itself, granted the shrike in 1992 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, poses a threat to the unsuspecting birds. Once a species is labelled endangered, those owning the land on which the bird or animal lives are not allowed to tamper with the property. Like heritage sites in the city, neither endangered species nor their environments may be significantly altered. But, to the struggling farmer wanting to subdivide some of her land in order to finance a child's education or diversify the land's use, the presence of the shrike prevents such an action and may incite landowners to kill the bird. Bird sympathizes with landowners and believes it unfair to punish such people for the follies of society at large that result in endangering species. "We have to work with the landowners to convince them of the benefits of preserving the species," says Bird, an inveterate communicator on wildlife issues, who is working on a video on the subject. And what are the benefits? From a landowner's point of view, there may be economic advantages, says Bird, pointing out that birding is the second most popular leisure activity in Canada, after gardening. Having a rare bird on one's land could be a great attraction and source of income, says the self-styled "hands-on" wildlife biologist. Governments should take the woes of these landowners to heart as well, adds Bird. "Protective legislation is not enough." From the point of view of the health of our planet, and ultimately our own, Bird considers the shrike to be one of those "flagship species" whose state of endangerment warns us that something is awry and that other species too are at risk of disappearing. We notice the shrike, he says, because it's the most eccentric of its "guild," or fellow birds sharing the same landscape, which include the Brown Thrasher, Henslow's Sparrow, the Upland Sandpiper, the Eastern Bluebird and the Northern Mockingbird. Bird fears that "once you start removing all the rivets, you're only left with a handful of species." And had there not been human intervention, beginning five years ago, the eastern loggerhead shrike would by now be extinct, he maintains. This cantankerous, aggressive little bird is unique in its manner of hunting and storing its prey. Bird recalls seeing in the wild the gruesome sight of a thornbush decorated with the skins of mice. (Similarly, at the ASCC shrike aviary, each thornbush is hung with male chicks which are fed dead to the birds.) The shrike's predisposition to fighting means that they have to be housed in individual cages except in mating season, when the changes to their hormones allow a couple to court, mate, make a nest and raise the young together. That is the only time when a shrike -- and many of the Macdonald birds were born in captivity and raised by humans -- will be friendly, says Bird, nursing the finger that was painfully pecked during the shooting of the above photograph. Clearly, saving the shrike is a labour of love. And the labour seems to be paying off. Bird is pleased with the response from funding agencies, the media and the public. "CBC and the Discovery Channel have both done pieces on the shrikes and it's just the beginning," says Bird. He estimates it costs $2,500 per shrike to raise it from the egg to the time of release. Releases have yet to occur. The strategy used by the ASCC and the Metro Zoo is to breed in captivity two colonies, large enough to allow for experimental releases into the wild. At present, Bird has 24 birds, while the zoo has 25. Sometime in the year 2000, the two institutions will try a variety of methods of release such as adding eggs or captive bird nestlings to active nests in the wild, pairing a single captive-bred bird with a wild bird or placing captive breeding pairs in large, outdoor aviaries where they will be protected from predators as hawks and raccoons and fed, at least initially, live food. Unlike the peregrines, who know virtually no enemies, shrikes are vulnerable to all sorts of ground mammals, such as raccoons, and birds of prey, like the hawk and owl. So Bird knows that saving this small bird will be harder than saving the peregrine. "The crucial question is: Will the birds recognize and avoid predators?" The final fate of these ornery birds will rest with their ability to avoid predators that are even tougher than they are. David Bird will be speaking tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in the amphitheatre of the Redpath Museum on: The Pros and Cons of Technology for Birds of Prey.