The Loggerhead Shrike - a predatory songbird, famous for it's unique impaling behavior. The one pictured here is a federally-listed subspecies, the San Clemente Loggerhead shrike, endemic to San Clemente Island, CA 

Our shrike research has taken place all over California, including San Clemente Island, ~80 miles west of our CSU San Marcos campus

Loggerhead Shrikes are passeriform songbirds that hunt like hawks and falcons. They are primarily insectivorous but also depend on vertebrate prey that can exceed their own body weight. This presents a fascinating case study of functional morphology

Because biting is their primary mode of capture, bite force should be under strong natural selection. However, their jaws also need to be fast to capture insects. We are interested in how they navigate these conflicting demands of force and speed. See Sustaita & Rubega (2014), Sustaita & Laurin (2024), and Mason's page for additional details.

We use high-speed videography to perform detailed kinematic analyses of prey attack and processing behavior. These analyses will help us understand how and why predatory proficiency varies with age, which may be informative for conservation breeding and release programs. See Sustaita et al. (2018).

Shrikes often perform this conspicuous behavior prior to attacking their prey, and we are trying to understand why they do it and how it works. Please see Yesenia et al. (2025) and Yesenia's page for additional details.

We are using micro-CT scanning technology to investigate shrike-induced damages to prey, with particular interest in verifying the damage to the spinal cord incurred by shrikes' prey-shaking behavior (Sustaita et al. 2018). Please see Abby's page for additional details.

Much of our shrike research takes place at the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike conservation breeding facility operated by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and U.S. Navy on San Clemente Island, California, where we can get up-close and personal to study the intrcacies of thier feeding behavior.

We are embarking on an exciting new collaboration with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to develop remote, automated weighing systems ("RAWS") for tracking the health of San Clemente Loggerhead Shrikes post-release on San Clemente Island. Please see Elizabeth's page for additional details.