[EBB Sightings] FWD: Loggerhead shrike Berkeley Mdw

This is a forward of a forward from the SFBayareabirding yahoo list.

>From my birding partner, Kevin:

I would like to report what I consider to be a very significant bird sighting.
Over a 2-day period, I have made 3 separate sightings of a
Loggerhead Shrike in he same location.

These sightings were made On Monday Oct. 16th & Tuesday Oct. 17th at
the Berkeley Meadow. Although possibilities exist, I believe it most likely
that all 3 sightings were of the same bird. In my four years of birding, this
is only the second Loggerhead Shrike I have ever seen, the other sighting being
in San Joaquin Valley in 2006. I
understand that Shrike numbers are declining dramatically.

The Berkeley Meadow is a part of the Eastshore Park system, and is
bordered by Hwy. 880, University Ave., Marina Blvd., and a body of water my
birding partner and I call the Berkeley Lagoon. The lagoon encompasses Cesar
Chavez Park as it flows into the S.F. Bay. For some
time, this has been one of our favorite birding locations. From the meadow one
can observe a variety of songbirds and raptors, including a resident pair of
White-tailed Kites. A simple turn of the head towards the lagoon can reveal a
wealth of both seasonal and resident shore and aquatic birds.

A dirt road running east and west separates the meadow from the
lagoon, and it was here that I first observed the Logger-head Shrike. It was
perched atop a large, sturdy, dry bush from which it was hunting. For 5 minutes
or so, I watched as it would swoop down into the
grasses below, and then return to its perch.

All the while a family of Brown Pelicans cruised the lagoon behind me,
diving and splashing in their attempts to catch fish. The Loggerhead finally
left its perch, and I moved on. As I was leaving the area to return to my car,
I again spotted the Shrike perched in a tree, very close to Marina Blvd., and
perhaps 200 yards from my first sighting.
The Shrike paid me little mind as I approached within 20 ft.

I returned the next day to the same area, and as I was watching the
antics of a beautiful American Kestrel, I again
saw the Logger-head Shrike. Both the Kestrel and the Shrike were perched atop a
telephone line which runs the length of the afore mentioned dirt road. All
three sightings of the Loggerhead Shrike were made from this dirt road. and
within 200 yards of Marina Blvd.

Other birds sighted at this location during this 2-day period
include:

House Finch
Black Phoebe
White-crowned
Sparrow
Mourning Dove
American Crow
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Blue Heron
Double-crested Cormorant
Canada Goose
Western Grebe
Forsters Tern
Western Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Black Turnstone
Whimbrel
Willet
Black-bellied Plover
Marbled Godwit
Lesser Yellowleg

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