Tweets:

On January 2nd a male Vermilion Flycatcher was spotted by participants in the
Stevensville Christmas Bird Count, near Victor Crossing, Montana. The bird
fed primarily on midges plucked from a pond near the Bitterroot River. This
was Montana's first record of a Vermilion Flycatcher and an article with
picture dominated the Missoulian newspaper's front page.

On January 11th, a group of birders ended up watching the bird's demise as a
Northern Shrike attacked and killed it. According to the article appearing
in the Missoulian, the shrike began chasing the flycatcher, struck it a
couple of times and disappeared behind a house. One of the last views was of
the shrike carrying the flycatcher first in its beak and then by its claws.

Speculation ranges from ....the Vermilion Flycatcher's bright color made it
more vulnerable; it doesn't normally come into contact with Northern Shrikes
(though it does with Loggerhead Shrikes); or as the biologist added, it just
may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Joyce Meyer
Woodinville, WA