Michael wrote -

> This morning at about 10:30 I saw two shrike at Magnuson Park at Sand Point in
> Seattle. They were in the wet area immediately noertheast of the large yellow
> Naval building (more East than North). There was an adult and a juvenile, and
> as best as I can figure, they were Loggerhead Shrike. The adult had a clear
> white breast, a medium grey back with hints of violet. I *think* the grey
> continued down to the rump. The head shape seemed to be more like a
> Loggerhead as well. A *very* pretty bird. The juvenile was very washed out
> and brownish, with a bit of scalloping on the breast. No real white, no real
> black, and the grey of the back was brownish

Loggerhead Shrike juveniles moult into adult plumage in their first fall, thus
a bird born last year would look identical to an adult in its first April. N.
Shrikes moult later thus I would surmise that any shrike still in immature
plumage in the boreal spring must be a Northern. However, there is not a strong
family bond within N. Shrikes and I seriously doubt that a parent and its
offspring would be together as a unit the following spring. I do not know if
this holds for Loggerheads. So your observation is a puzzler: were they two
young birds, one a Loggerhead and one a Northern? Or an adult Loggerhead and
a young Northern? Or just a couple of unrelated young and old Northerns that
happened to be passing through at the same time. There was discussion of
shrike plumages on Tweeters about a year ago (at least) after a Loggerhead
was seen near Victoria, BC. Perhaps do a search of the Tweeters database for
Loggerhead Shrike and review what was posted there.

- Jack


Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca