Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Northern Shrike Sighting

Please Note: This item is from the archives. It was originally posted two years ago, in early March, 2007. Riel

I have only had two Northern Shrike sightings this winter and both were in the exact, same location where I had seen this shrike yesterday. My other sighting had been in mid-December. I would think that it most likely was the same bird. It was perched right at the very tip top of a very tall, dead tree. The photo to the far left shows only about a third of the height of the tree. A passerby would most likely not even have noticed it but when driving by yesterday I had purposely looked up to the top of the tree and saw a small, light grayish sort of fluffly looking blob at its very top. At first we could only see its light gray underbelly but when it turned its head sideways we were able to see its characteristic narrow black mask and knew it was a Northern Shrike we were looking at.

To view a previous posting on Northern Shrike go to:
http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2007/01/northern-shrike.html

8 comments:

Kay said...

These are such great shots, Ann. Can you imagine what it would feel like to be perched at the top of the world and then flying off like that?

Tina said...

What a great eye to have caught this guy perched on top of this tree as you drove!! I would love to see one of these birds..how exciting!!

Gail said...

Good job...mid flight!

Mary said...

I love those first two shots showing how tall the limb is that it is on. What a pretty bird. I don't think I have ever seen one (seems like I say that a lot:-)

Redzlan aka Tabib said...

I like that blue background.

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

The flight photograph shows how pretty the bird is :)

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Anonymous said...

I love how birds perch on the very tip of something like that. These are great shots. The one of it taking off it perfect.

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