Tweets, I've been tracking a N Shrike near Tenino that's been present
through the winter and was seen again this morning, April 15. It is getting
a tad late for them to be hanging around. This is a juvenile bird
consistently found along Old Hwy 99 south of Waldrick Rd in a narrow parcel
of (native?) prairie with mima mounds between the highway and the rail line
to the east - technically probably part of Rocky Prairie. The shoulder is
insufficient for pull-offs but there are paved side-accesses marked by
rusty-red gates where you can get totally off the road. Southbound the first
pull-off is just south of the large residence property ("Twin Oaks"?) at
Waldrick Rd; the second is halfway to the rail overpass. Northbound the
first pull-off is approx. 1/10 mile north of the overpass, the second is
directly opposite the one southbound, near the north border of the prairie
tract. It was from here I've seen the shrike this week, but previously it
has been observed anywhere along the entire length of the tract. Good
birding!
-- Paul Hicks / Tenino, s. Thurston Co / phicks AT accessgrace.org