Northern Shrike and more today...

This morning, a friend & I set out early and ventured over to Holiday Park.
As soon as we got there I decided to quickly check out the river.
I'm glad I did, because I spied a Northern Shrike actively hunting the few House Sparrows perched along some of the shrubs at the edge of the water.
This is the first Northern Shrike I have seen this fall.

Other birds seen at the park were:

White-winged Crossbill - At least 6
House Finch - 20+
Northern Flicker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Common Redpoll - 5
Blue Jay - 2
Black-capped Chickadee - 9
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 6

On the way home we checked out part of Chapel Marsh where it was deadly quiet except for a lone American Coot, that was probably wishing it was somewhere else, as the water was completely frozen over.

Finishing up by checking out the Lakeshore Garden Nursery site on 11th St. I found a group of 10 Cedar Waxwings , 2 Blue Jays and a Downy Woodpecker.

Here are some photos :

Northern Shrike - unfortunately I couldn't get anywhere near him, but this will do for a record shot :



Black-capped Chickadee - Here's one I could get a bit closer too :



American Coot - I hope this bird decides its time to start flying south soon :