[EBB Sightings] Loggerhead shrike sighting at Berkeley meadow

> Date: Friday, October 24, 2008, 5:23 PM
> 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 Yellowlegs