Northern shrike at Colony farm

pocojohn · **Joined:** Apr 18 3:26 pm **Posts:** 18

I saw this one today after another birder pointed out where he had just spotted one. (I didn't think to ask his name) Its not a good picture , so please don't comment on the quality as its the best I could do at that distance. I had never saw one before, but according to the books they are not all that common , so I thought I would post it in case anyone else might want to watch out for it. It was in the field across from the pond at colony farm. I also saw a northern harrier hawk in the same field, but couldn't get a photo of it .

amblesidebirder · **Posted:** Oct 25 1:50 am

Great capture! We banded 4 Northern Shrikes at the banding station at Colony Farms this morning. We had three hatch year birds and one adult. We had 2 earlier in the year, but this was a first of 4 in one day. We also had a hatch year White-throated Sparrow which was a new species banded for Colony.

pocojohn · **Joined:** Apr 18 3:26 pm **Posts:** 18

Thanks Les. I read on another forum that there are about three sitings every year in the lower mainland so I was going with that. it looks like you see them more often working the banding station. Anyway its still rare enough that I may never get a better chance to photograph one, but I'll keep my eyes open.
John F.

revs · **Posted:** Oct 25 4:40 pm

pocojohn wrote:

Thanks Les. I read on another forum that there are about three sitings every year in the lower mainland so I was going with that. it looks like you see them more often working the banding station. Anyway its still rare enough that I may never get a better chance to photograph one, but I'll keep my eyes open.
John F.

not quite that rare John, but a challenging bird to capture nonetheless.
Well done

Doug · **Posted:** Oct 25 10:56 pm

That is good that you got the photo of it. I have never seen one there, but once at Brunswick point I did and it had a mouse or vole.
No shot, but a quick glimpse.
So I really never knew what to look for after.
Now i read Les banded 4 in a day....sigh!!!

amblesidebirder · **Posted:** Oct 26 7:45 pm

Hey Doug,

Banding a Northern Shrike is interesting to say the least. Be prepared to lose a little blood. They like to leave their mark. I'm proud to have some Northern Shrike scars on my hands :wink:

We got pictures that day, but I didn't get one personally, but will share what's passed along to me I get them.

On Sunday morning we caught 1 Northern Shrike that we banded on Saturday and saw two more in around the area with no bands. So we do know that there were at least 6 of them at Colony Farms this weekend.

Doug · **Posted:** Oct 26 9:27 pm

Thanks Les... I was planning to go there tomorrow if the weather is nice.

amblesidebirder · **Posted:** Nov 01 3:12 pm

Just a quick and interesting update with the Northern Shrikes at Colony Farms.

We caught two more again today. One was a re-trap that was banded on October 24th. This was an adult bird. We checked for weight and fat and it had went from a 0 fat to a 1 and weighed 5 grams heavier then 7 days ago. Doing well. The second Shrike was a HY bird and banded today. So they are still haging around and eating well as the data shows.

Northern shrike at Colony farm

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