Hello, tweets.

Just a comment on the great find by the Sullivans of a July Northern Shrike at Ocean Shores.

They thought the bird might be a juvenile, but on looking at their photos, I would say it's at least a year old. A juvenile would be browner and would have almost no hint of a face mask. It would be extremely unlikely (might I say impossible?) for a bird hatched in the normal breeding range to make it south this far by early July, and of course they don't normally come down until October. If the bird is at least a year old, we don't even have to consider the thought that it might have hatched somewhere nearby.

Whether the bird just stayed at Ocean Shores since last winter or whether it came there recently from somewhere else will, of course, remain a mystery. I can only imagine their shock on seeing it. As I wrote them, this is more unexpected than a Temminck's Stint!

Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
dennispaulson at comcast.net