The Mousers were busy in the yard today....Martha and a surprise participant !!
William81
Member Posts: 25,345 ✭✭✭✭
We received about 4" of snow yesterday and as the bottom fell out temperature wise, Martha spent the night in the garage. We let her out when the sun came out and the temp broke 20 degrees. She was out the door and rolling around in the snow and enjoying being back outside. Early this afternoon I saw her in the back yard doing some mousing.
She was having a great time.....messing with a mouse in the snow and I took several pics of her...
And the surprise was a bird that flew down a couple times and tried to get the mouse..it finally caught one near our cellar house and flew off with it. I have never seen a bird this size catch and carry a mouse away. I am still trying to figure out what kind of bird this is...any ideas ?
Tough day to be a mouse for sure !!!
Comments
Looks like a loggerhead shrike or northern shrike - can't see enough of the belly in the picture.
I would say it's some variety of Jay. It's similar in markings to the "scrub jay" we have around here, but they are blue where yours is gray. I have seen scrub jays raid rabbit nests and kill the babies. They are also hell on nesting songbirds. The markings are all wrong for a gray Jay, more commonly known as the camp robber.
Google search says Great grey shrike.
Awesome pics!
as others have said Awesome pictures
🙂🙂🙂
Better pic of the bird....
Great grey shrike = Northern Shrike, the larger of the 2 species. Known to impale its prey. Makes sense
Thank you
Norther Shrike. Birders will pay for that picture. I have seen hundreds of Shrikes never with a caught mouse. You caught a rare moment in nature. Congratulations William 81.
Thank you...I have several pictures of the interaction...including ones of the Shrike sitting in a tree feasting on the mouse..I felt like I was catching a rare interaction while I was taking the pics... I appreciate your observation .