Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Northern Shrike - YES, Frederick county

From:

Matt Orsie

Reply-To:

Matt Orsie

Date:

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:37:38 -0500

All,
  Sometimes you have to pay your dues. Such was the
case today for me in a second attempt to see the Northern
Shrike near Emmitsburg, MD. I arrived around 12:30pm and
met a lot of friendly MD birders who reported that no one had seen
the bird today. That was encouraging(:<   Most of this group left
by 2:30pm. A couple of birders who had missed the bird leaving early
on Saturday came back around 2:30pm in hopes of seeing it. Imagine
their dismay when told it had not been seen at all. They headed
on down Shriver rd towards Harney Rd and I did not see them for 15
minutes.

I apologize in advance for forgetting names but a third birder who went
down that way came back to me and reported they saw the shrike in a
lone small tree on the left hand side of Shiver rd just pass the woods
( on the right ) as your heading towards Harney. This is probably 3-4 tenths
of a mile from Harney rd. I went over and they said it went from the tree
to the field a couple of times and then never saw it come out or fly away.
After a fruitless search for 15 minutes I went back to the original stake out
location across from the hedgerows to continue the vigil. They came 
over to this location about 5 minutes later. I was panning the evergreen
trees on the SW side of the road when they said... "the shrike is along
the hedgerow on the north side". Having more eyes is a good thing!!

So... thanks for the good spot and a great bird. I left around 3:35pm.

The Happy Camper,
Matt Orsie
Jefferson County - Summit Point, WV
http://wvbirder.com