Obolinks,
After seeing my post this afternoon, Barb Combs raced out there and found a
shrike in the same field. We have a difference of opinion. It was quite far
away from us (100-meters at first and then steadily moved away to
approximately 200-meters), but we were looking at it with our Kowa 80 with
its HD lens at 60-power. We could see it well. Its bill seemed small, and
the mask did not seem quite as narrow as I would have expected on a
Northern, although Northern indeed was my first impression. The mask seemed
to widen behind the eye, and was solidly black through and in front of the
eye, with just a tiny bump in the black where the eye is. The white wing
patch was tiny, and overall its back was very light all the way to the black
tail. Anne and I went back and forth and could not really make the bill a
large bill. Two things were certain, the breast showed no barring of any
kind, faint or strong and it was an adult bird.
More later when we (I) look at it (or look for it) tomorrow.
Dan Heyerly, Eugene
