I devoted much of my field effort today to getting better pictures of the Northern Shrike. So that's one less person chasing Snowy Owls. They're not all that interesting, anyway. They just sit there. Oh wait. They fly around every time someone gets too close. But back to the shrike. Thanks to Diana Teta for the sighting that led to my only close range shots. I posted a picture at my web site http://www.stevewalternature.com/ . Amazingly, I stumbled across what appears to be its prey, in the form of a shrew impaled on a bush. There's a link to that picture in the shrike write up. It's not gory or anything, but you can decide if you want to look at it.
Yesterday, the shrike seemed to be making a large loop, but usually returning to the two small trees south of the parking lot, to the west of the swale. After today's first report had it there, it apparently kept its travels to the north and northwest of the lot. I would advise a vantage point from the northwest section of the lot if you're still looking for it. Keep an eye on all prominent trees. From here, you can also look back at the trees to the south. On one of the occasions that it sang, I was able to locate it in one of the trees to the west of the entrance road. In fact, some of us were able to see the shrike and an owl out in the dunes while standing in one spot. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
