Hi Tweets,

Went for a long-overdue birding trip on my lunch break. I'm still quite the newbie, so it was great to see the activity picking up, between the shovelers, herons, hooded mergansers, and bald eagles. My highlight was what I think was a JUVENILE NORTHERN SHRIKE (a lifer for me) on the tall dead tree at the south end of the southwest pond. It was the right size and had a clearly hooked beak. It looked exactly like the photo in this link, and I'd be grateful if someone more experienced could look at it and email me to let me know if the photographer identified the bird correctly. http://www.nawwal.org/~mrgoff/photojournal/2006/winspr/01-23p03shrike.html The bird also had a round pink spot near the center of its breast which looked a little like a predator might have snatched at it and missed.

I also saw four or five golden crowned sparrows as well as a frustratingly difficult to identify LBB nearby, rather studiously refusing to intermingle with them. Definitely some kind of sparrow, *maybe* a swamp sparrow, but I will have to go back and search for it again - it had pink legs, a rusty head with grayer cheeks, and I think I saw a white throat patch. Whatever it was, it was in the brush at the north end of the central pond.

Anyway, not much for most, but a pretty good day for me. Happy birding!

Meg Matthews
Communications Assistant
UW Botanic Gardens
206-543-2608
gavigan at u dot washington dot edu

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