Yesterday, March 14, I saw, in the same vicinity where I saw one February 14, a Northern Shrike. The area
is primarily young forest, much of it cut within the past 10 years. This is on the south side of Skookumchuck
Reservoir towards its west end. It's the Vail Tree Farm in Thurston County south of Olympia. I usually think
of shrikes as wintering in estuaries and pasturelands, places that are generally flat and open, usually
expanses of grassland with scattered patches of shrubs or low trees. The clearcuts seem structurally
appropriate, I just haven't seen them in this habitat before.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov