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Project Noah Nature School
Lanius excubitor
More barred and brownish than the adult Northern Shrike. Already has the black eye line and hooked beak but doesn't have the fresh striking plumage of the adult.
Foraging from small trees along the roadway down onto the grass beside the cranberry fields. Was eating the insects itself rather than taking them to a larder. This area is a polder, meaning it was reclaimed from the wetlands and flooding around it years ago and is now mainly agricultural. The nearby wetlands support a herring rookery and a few pairs of nesting Sandhill Cranes in the summer.
This immature Northern Shrike was feeding exclusively on insects this time. Not taking anything to a larder. This species just makes it onto The Breeding Birds of BC list as its breeding range just dips into northern BC from the Yukon and Alaska.
Spotted on Jan 12, 2015
Submitted on Jan 13, 2015
2 Comments
Thanks! Yes and I have watched them taking small rodents and impaling them on a barbed wire fence for future needs. Very cool!
A very cool bird to see!