The Shrike continued there on Saturday from 11am to 1pm (or so)
despite the football game (note to self: write the Husky schedule in
my calendar).

I saw it on the birch, as Amy describes, multiple times. It was
flycatching from there and dropping into the grass to catch
invertebrates.

It was also in transit back and forth between the central pond and
that birch with intermediate stopping points on two other small bushes
to the north of the path and west of the pond (where I saw it first).
It was quite obviously "different" in flight.

It also perched pretty low in the shrubby plants around the central
pond (with the light yellow green leaves with whiteish undersides) and
fed from the ground. When low in this shrubbery it was amazingly
cryptic.

On the final reappearance it flew from well over the other side of the
Central pond (so it is ranging around on that "south end" of the Fill)
and back to the birch. Eventually after sharing the birch with a
couple of crows it flew back out the island.

I bumped into a photographer (who give me the low down on which end of
the island it liked -- many thanks) and another birder who talked
about satisfying one's self as to the difference between the Northern
and Loggerhead Shrike ID. At the distance we were (closer to the pond
than the birch) even with 10x glasses it was difficult to see the
field marks. Later on (on a another reappearance) I managed to get
much closer and with 10x image stabilized bins got all the detail I
needed to see the different field marks for the Northern (the very
fine scaled or barred breast, the lighter base of the lower mandible,
the lighter "lower forehead", hooked bill, and the narrower mask).
Very nice views. Interesting plumage for a bird that pretty much
halfway between the adult and the juvenile illustrations in Sibley.

Two Belted Kingfishers (at least one female) having an extended
dispute with dogfight chase over the Fill. One of these seemed to like
the perch at the end of Mud Island I had been told was favored by the
shrike.

The photographer mentioned Meadowlarks but I didn't see them.

Not much else of interest but lots of American Crows. Much more than
usual. I suspect they really do like the Husky games and all the extra
food they provide. One or two Red-tailed Hawks (could be the same bird
in two different locations) being harrassed most of the time by the
crows. One fleeting glimpse of another medium-sized bluish backed
raptor low across the Fill but no ID.


On Oct 22, 2009, at 7:02 PM, AMY DAVIS wrote:

> The shrike was back at the Montlake Fill tonight (Thursday, 5:30
> PM), and very easy to see. It was perched on the birch snag ( north
> of Mud Island), just 20 feet from the trail, and stayed for quite
> awhile. Later it flew to the tall snag where the swallows live, by
> the SW pond, and eventually disappeared into the cattails there. A
> lovely way to end the day.
>
> --Amy, Seattle

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com
twitter: at kevinpurcell



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20091024/820a479d/attachment.htm