Northern Shrike 001

Few people get a chance to see a northern shrike. They are an uncommon predatory songbird about the size of a robin. They feed on small birds and mammals. Our chickadees were busy calling and flitting around our bird feeder the other day and all of sudden they all disappear. I couldn’t find a chickadee anywhere. A northern shrike had moved in. The shrike was looking for a meal.

NorthernShrike001

Northern Shrike 002

You can see that their beak is hooked just like a bald eagle. They can catch smaller birds with amazing speed. Along comes a downy woodpecker.

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Northern Shrike 003

The shrike had the downy before I could even get a photo. He killed it with a bite to the back of the neck and carried it off to have breakfast.

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Marten 001

On a happier note our marten came back after a two-week absence. There was a raven flying from tree to tree and it seemed to make the marten nervous.

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Marten 002

He kept standing on his back feet looking at the raven. I was wondering if he might have had a close encounter with an owl because I don’t think a raven would attack a marten.

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Marten 003

This is my favorite shot of the day because of the shadow. When I showed this to some friends they commented that it looks like he has baggy fur pants.

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Marten 004

Here is the vertical.

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White-Tailed Deer in the Pines

I took this photo of a white-tailed deer in the pines at Cascade River State Park while skiing earlier. Now we have over 4 feet of snow on the ground and it doesn’t look like it is melting anytime soon. The trails are in excellent shape.

WhiteTailDeer