Loggerhead shrike COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 9
Special Significance of the Species
Loggerhead Shrikes were formerly common inhabitants of open habitats throughout most of the USA and southern Canada. In recent decades, populations in various parts of the species’ range have declined dramatically. Eastern populations (L: l. migrans) are now Endangered in Ontario and are largely absent from the majority of their former range in the northeastern United States. Although western populations have not undergone such drastic declines, some populations, such as the San Clemente Island population (L. l. mearnsi) and the population (L. l. excubitorides) in southwestern Manitoba are now classified as Endangered. L. l. excubitorides has also undergone decades of population declines in the southern portions of the breeding range in Oklahoma and Texas where it was formerly very common.
Despite considerable attention towards these various declining and endangered populations, it is still unclear which factors are responsible for the species widespread declines (see discussions in Yosef 1996, Cade and Woods 1997). Conservation actions have been directed almost wholly towards identifying and protecting nesting habitats. Potential problems (habitat loss, pesticides) on the wintering grounds, where populations have declined, remain to be studied.
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