[3] Due to its small size and weak talons, this predatory bird relies on impaling its prey upon thorns or barbed wire for facilitated consumption.

[4] The numbers of loggerhead shrike have significantly decreased in recent years, especially in Midwestern, New England and Mid-Atlantic areas.

[5] In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the loggerhead shrike in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Louisiana in the United States.

[6] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not usually conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[7] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

[9] "Loggerhead," a similar word to "blockhead," refers to the unusually large head to body ratio of this bird.

[13][22] Loggerhead shrikes were once widely distributed across southern Canada, the contiguous USA and Mexico.

[13] The bird requires an open habitat with an area to forage, elevated perches, and nesting sites.

[25] They are often found in open pastures or grasslands and appear to prefer red-cedar and hawthorn trees for nesting.

[27] It may also nest in fence-rows or hedge-rows near open pastures and requires elevated perches as lookout points for hunting.

[25][26] Open pastures and grasslands with shorter vegetation are preferred by loggerhead shrikes, as they increase the bird's hunting efficiency.

[28] Loggerhead shrikes have been repeatedly observed killing prey larger than themselves by spearing the neck or head of the animal and twisting.

They primarily eat insects, but also consume arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, bats and small birds.

Preferred perches are approximately 13 ft (4.0 m) off the ground, and are usually outer branches of trees or telephone wires.

Larger prey are subjected to impaling, in which they are pushed down into a sharp projection, such as a thorn or barbed wire.

[4] The bird breeds in semi-open areas in southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Canadian prairie provinces, south to Mexico.

It nests in isolated or small clusters of dense trees and shrubs from near ground level to over 4m in height.

In the case of dead nestlings, adult shrikes may eat or discard their bodies or else feed them to their remaining young.

Reasons behind the decline remain unclear, although suggestions include habitat loss, pesticide contamination, and human disturbance.

[38] The San Clemente Island shrike, L. l. mearnsi, is critically endangered, with a population as low as 5–10 individuals during 1983–1988.

In 2001, an experimental field breeding and release program managed by Wildlife Preservation Canada was established.