Subject: [Tweeters] A shrike, strikes
Date: Jan 21 15:21:29 2015
From: Rob Sandelin - nwnature1 at gmail.com


Wandered slowly in the sunshine out to the river bar at Bob Heirman Park
yesterday. It was very quiet, a few Common Mergansers on the river, the
usual crows in the later afternoon. Got a nice look at a Shrike as it
perched on a small cottonwood at Riverside. It moved along but I kept
running into it here and there, or maybe there was more than one. On the way
back I was sitting on a sunny log marveling that it was actually January
when the Shrike landed nearby, paused for just a moment then swooped down
to the ground, all predator-like. It came up and landed on the same log I
was sitting on (it was a big log) with a good sized beetle which it pecked
into bite sized pieces.



This completely cemented my view that whenever I want a close wildlife
encounter all I have to do is leave my camera at home. This kind of stuff
NEVER happens when I have a camera handy.



Rob Sandelin

Naturalist, mostly retired teacher, slowly going feral

Snohomish County