Roadside Meeting

A Loggerhead Shrike on a barbed wire fence caught my eye when I was driving along a rural road in eastern Oregon. Shrikes are predatory songbirds which hunt mice, lizards, small birds, and insects.

The shrike flew off and landed nearby:

At that moment, another extraordinary bird flew up onto the fence:

It was a Sage Thrasher, an uncommon denizen of the high deserts of the interior West. It seemed to be pretty excited about the shrike.

Seconds later the shrike returned to the fence, landing near the thrasher:

I hardly knew which way to point the camera:

Thanks for stopping by!