The Future of My Bird and Project

I believe that the future of my bird project might become very useful one day when the right person with greater skills than mine takes over my Facebook page and reaches out to people in different regions in North America and gets them involved.  I do feel that my Facebook page has had an impact here in New Jersey by having some people aware of the issue that is happening in Quebec with these birds.  I think that information and persuasion is the key to helping these birds and I think that the best way to actually help and get something done is by taking action on the social media world.  Today is the world of technology and I feel that we need to take this opportunity and run with it and see where it takes us.  I on the other hand, have a strong fear that this situation that these eastern Loggerhead Shrikes are in might get worse before it gets better, but I hope that I am wrong.  I feel that there are not many people out there that seem to care about this bird as much as some people, which frustrates me.  I think this is a really cool bird to have in our ecosystem and for future generations to see and enjoy.  What the recovery programs that are doing in Quebec are very important and just might work if the other contributing factors to the birds are either taken away or diminished quickly.  If this happens in the near future, I don’t see why the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike population can’t grow and flourish enough for them to be taken off the endangered list, which I hope happens soon. : )    

What my Facebook Project Needs

 So far since I started my project, I have gotten a great response from the people on Facebook.  It’s a wonderful thing to see how many young people here in New Jersey seem to care and acknowledge the situation about an animal that they see is in need of help in another region of North America.  Even though my Facebook page has received a great turn out I feel it’s not much help to any organization in Quebec.  I think what my bird project needs is more people going onto my Facebook page, “Liking the page, and actually wanting to do something and help these birds.  I also think once I feel comfortable with the amount of people “Liking” my page, I will ask an organization in Quebec for their thoughts and opinion of them using my Facebook page for their use to help get the word out and possible attract more people to do something. : ) 


If you are interested in helping : )

Eastern Loggerhead Shrike and the Economy

Some of the economic factors that I have found that seems to be effecting the Eastern Loggerhead Bird the most in the Quebec area is the funding.  As the economy goes down, so does the governmental funding that is given to some organizations that to help the bird and other wildlife.  In 2008 the government decided to cut short their five year contract of funding the bird early.  This specific five year agreement was broken between the federal government and with Wildlife Conservation Canada which provides funds to conserve the endangered Eastern Loggerhead Shrike.  This greatly influences and impacts the birds significantly because this gives the chance of funding being cut more often since it was done before.  In June 2011, the Québec Government started the Plan Nord which is a big project that will give an approximant $80 billion over for the next twenty five years period to help organizations and their recovery programs.  I really hope that the federal government decides to stick to their agreement this time. : )  

How my Bird and Hawaii’s extinct birds compare

Hawaii has a devastating history of birds going extinct.  Most of Hawaii’s birds that have gone extinct was due to first the colonization of the Polynesians and then by the colonization of Europeans.  Much of the bird loss happened from people hunting the birds, habitat destruction, diseases, introduction of new species, and competition for food.  The Eastern Loggerhead Shrike is endangered and many fear that it will soon go extinct if nothing is done soon to help this bird repopulate.  Many people have a theory to way this bird, in Quebec, might be going extinct and it involves the disturbance of critical habitat, head-on collisions with cars (because they are low flying birds), diseases like West Nile Virus, rise of predators, the weather change that seems to be happening, and pesticides may also be a factor.
There are some similarities that I found, in my research, that these birds have in common and they are the disturbances of their critical habitats and diseases like the West Nile Virus.  The sad thing about their commonalities is that these factors can be stopped by us humans.  The easy way to help the spread of the West Nile Virus is to drain all water from things that collect water in our backyards and/or any other object that might collect unintentional water.  This will keep the number of mosquitoes down.  The way that we can help save the critical habitat that these bird live in is have businesses reuse buildings that are not in use any more and have more locations where these birds exist protected, which only requires sending a letter with signatures of people that share the same thought as you.  Many people are award of birds going extinct or birds that are listed as endangered or threaten and say someone needs to do something about it, but what many people don’t realize there is something that YOU can do and it sometimes doesn’t involve much hard work. : )       




Extincted Hawaiian Birds
Great website on Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes
Law passed in the U.S.A.

Eastern Loggerhead Shrike in the Neighborhood

Some areas where people have settled in Quebec greatly impact the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike.  Since the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike’s habitat is commonly found among open pastures and other open areas, it is also common to see those open lands being taking away because of all the expansion of businesses and the building of homes.  This in return keeps pushing back the birds further and further.  Then when these birds move to another location to find a new place to live, they get hit by local cars because they are a low flying bird.  Most of the people involved in saving the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike turn out to be many people from the Quebec region, which speak either English and/or French.  This is the way it is because most of the people from Quebec have the most in contact with this bird.  Much of the participants in saving the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike are older adults and with a small amount of younger people.  Even though I don’t live in Quebec, I am young and I wish to join forces to become one of those members in helping the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike bird. : ) 

The World of Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes !!!

     The Eastern Loggerhead Shrike is a very interesting bird that I have come to care about in the recent months.  At first glance, the bird looks like any other bird that someone might come upon if bird watching or if seeing the bird for your first time.  The bird is a medium sized grey and white bird with black on its wings and tail and a black mask-like mask across its eyes which closely resembles the black mask of a raccoon.  It is slightly smaller than a robin with a slightly larger head.  But in contrast the bird is very different compared to all the other birds.  When looking at the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike one would not guess that the bird is a predatory songbird.  Known as the “butcher bird”, it likes to kill its prey then store its food on barbed wire or any type of thorns that are found close by.  The Shrikes diet consists of eating mice, voles (any small mouse-like or rat-like rodent), grasshoppers, beetles, and any other small prey that it might find like other small birds. 
     The Eastern Loggerhead Shrike can be found in open pasture land which is its most preferable habitat.  The Shrike likes for their habitat to have lots of trees for them to perch on because this is how they stalk their prey.  It also likes to have many bushes with thorns so when they do catch their prey they can spear it right on the thorns because these birds do not have talons to hold their prey.  Because the bird prefers the pasture lands, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the bird to survive, for more of those lands are shrinking every year due to humans building on those lands.  Just recently the Shrike can be in Outaouais, Quebec region where they are labeled as threaten birds.  I really like these birds because I think they are so unique and interesting from all other birds found in North America.  I think it is important to help save these birds from extinction and even educate the public about these modern day dinosaur-like birds, but without the teeth birds.  : )   

Getting Started !!!

I am a 22 year old young woman that always loved recycling and picking up trash to make a location save for the animals to live.  But what I love the most is the self-worth feeling that I get after I do something that I know made a good impact on the earth.  Recently while I was on the internet, I came across a bird that caught my eye and made something inside me want to help it.  So I decided to make a non-profit Facebook page that would raise awareness for the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike bird, which is the bird that I took an interest of.  After I have accumulated a good amount of “Likes” on the page, I plan on presenting it to an organization in Quebec, where the bird is located, and see if there is a possibly that they would like to take ownership of my Facebook page to help them spread the important news of this bird much faster to the public.  My goal is to have people in Quebec become much more interested in this bird and have them be willing to go out and help this bird be not endangered anymore.  Through the Facebook I also want to have the resources they need to prepare for, organize, and teach school children and others about the conservation that is needed for migratory birds and other birds which are endangered.  I am really excited and can’t wait to get started. : ) Picture of the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike