Hi Tweets,

Brian Bell writes:

>...and a Northern Shrike (the shrike was first seen hovering, much
>as a that done by a kestrel). First time I have seen this in a shrike -
>anybody else seen this type activity?

A fair number of times, Brian, but it's not something they spend a lot of
time doing. Typically, a shrike hovers, usually at an altitude less than
10-12 meters, then drops down and flies close to the ground for some
distance, swoops up abruptly like a falcon to its perch and, at the point of
stall, begins another hover. And it's an actual hover, not a kiting, as they
will do this as readily on a dead calm day as when the wind's blowing hard.
Interesting, too, is how a hovering shrike will sometimes seem to be
actually standing vertically in the middle of the air, although much more
usually, the body and head are pitched at close to a 45-degree angle to the
ground.

This is a pretty demanding technique, and the highest number of consecutive
hovers I've seen was five before the bird went to perch. Locally, I've seen
this technique most often above the upper saltmarsh along the Boundary Bay
foreshore on the bay side of the dike. As far as hovering itself, Al
Jaramillo said, in reference to Western Kingbirds specifically but it's
probably justifiable to extend the reasoning to include shrikes, that they
do this only when the potential prey is large enough to furnish enough
energy to make it worth the bird's while.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net