Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 07:42:32 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Re: Northern Shrike MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I snuck out this afternoon early to look for the N. Shrike. There were a number of others there when I arrived, at about 2:30-2:45. As I was getting ready to park, someone ahead waved as if they had located the bird in the cornfield, so I moved ahead and parked. A small group of birders were standing at the edge of the cornfield and the shrike was perched quite far off on a cornstalk. We watched it for quite some time as it alternately flew down to pick up items (?) off the ground or perch on corn stalks. Eventually it flew in closer and we got very nice looks at its diagnostic field marks, including the barred belly, the black face mask which narrows over the eyes, the fairly large, prominant hooked bill, and the small, slight white crescents under the eyes. Also noted were two other features, that while not diagnostic for this species, do point towards it rather than Loggerhead; the pale coloration at the base of the lower mandible, and the tail pumping behavior. This last feature was quite distinct and reminded me of how an E. Phoebe pumps its tail, or perhaps a Hermit Thrush, but not so pronounced. This was a life, state and county bird for me, and my thanks go out to Dave Czaplak for reporting it here, and to Norm and Fran Saunders for maintaining this site, enabling us all to "get on" hot birds quickly before they disappear from the area! Happy New Year! Rick Sussman Ashton,MD (Montgomery County) warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================