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Index of Subjects Hi Ken et al, Nice story re the shrike. My friends were treated to quite the sight, too, as the shrike persistently, but unsuccessfully, chased what they suspect was a kinglet. Your question about how they carry their prey sent me to the species' Birds of North America account, where I found that to carry prey > 25 g, Northern Shrikes (weight ~65 g) will shift the prey from their bill to their feet. Incredibly enough, they've done so with birds as large as, in one case, a Stilt Sandpiper (55 g). (Another report, of a shrike carrying a pigeon (~350 g) for at least 50 m, is treated a bit skeptically.) Pretty amazing, Andy On Feb 24, 2013, at 10:32 AM, Ken McKenna wrote: > > Ken McKenna > Box 218 Stellarton NS > B0K 1S0 > 902 752-7644 > > Hi Andy and all > Charlie Kendell and I also had an adult Northern Shrike yesterday at Three Brooks in Pictou Co. We had just crossed Weirs Gut bridge when Charlie pointed out this awkwardly flying bird heading in our direction. I was driving and only had a quick glance at something that had a rolling alcid-like flight over the mostly frozen Three Brooks. > Charlie felt strongly it might have been a Shrike as he seems to be able to pull shrikes out of the wood-work! > He also felt the shrike had a small rodent in it's claws?- likely was the beak as I doubt the feet would be able to carry a rodent. Anyone know if it is possible? > > He jumped out of the vehicle and observed where it landed maybe 400m away on top of a hardwood. We turned around and drove back to see if we could confirm, but we could not locate the bird. We then started to head back out to Caribou I. when the Shrike flew over our vehicle and landed on a nearby conifer. We were able to confirm it to be an adult Northern Shrike with a few quick photos. It then landing on a power-line along the Panting driveway. Charlie was able to observe the bird try to clean some blood and debris from bill. This was most likely the same bird that we had seen earlier. More nice shots were taken. > > Other birds seen yesterday afternoon: > > 3 Barrows Goldeneye at Pictou Causeway (2 male) > 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler- Caribou I. ( Dragline area) > 6 Gadwall- NSPC Trenton > 5 Green-winged Teal (Am)- NSPC Trenton > 19 American Wigeon -NSPC Trenton did not see the male Eurasian today > pair N. Pintail-NSPC Trenton > 1 Belted Kingfisher -NSPC Trenton ( Green's Pt.) > 3 Hooded merganser- NSPC Trenton > 5 Hooded Merganser-Pictou Landing Big Gut bridge > 3 fem.Pintail- New Glasgow sewer > 3 Am. Wigeon -New Glasgow sewer > > Lots of Scaup along the Pictou Causeway -several thousand and a good assortment of other waterfowl > > cheers > Ken > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Horn" <aghorn@dal.ca> > To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> > Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 9:14 AM > Subject: [NatureNS] Shrike, waxwings in HRM > > >> Hi all, >> >> Yesterday afternoon, friends saw a Northern Shrike hunting near Susie's Lake (which is behind the Bayer's Lake Shopping Centre), and on Thursday, other friends had 30 Bohemian Waxwings in their backyard south of the Dalhousie campus. >> >> No exact locations on either, but worth keeping an eye out if you happen to be in those areas. >> >> Cheers, >> Andy Horn >> Halifax > >
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