Sunday, March 30th was bright and sunny, but cold and windy and Belle Isle still had a wintery look. The woodland trail still had a thick covering of snowy ice. I thought I might be able to find some good birds at Belle Isle. The woods turned out to be pretty quiet. I hoped to see maybe a Pine Warbler, Brown Thrasher or Eastern Phoebe. I saw plenty of the resident and expected birds, but none of those.
So I went to the meadow area on the south side of the island. This can be a very good birding area in April and May. Large chunks of ice were stacked up against the island.
I walked along the south shore and didn't see much until a bird fluttered in a tree. I was surprised to see a Northern Shrike. This is the first I've ever seen at Belle Isle. The photos below are a few of many.
In these flight photos, the bird was hovering like a kestrel. I had trouble finding the bird in the viewfinder, but I was still pleased with these.
When it flew from the perch above, I literally did not see where it went over the large meadow and never did relocate the bird.
Ring-billed Gull resting on one of the few pieces of floating ice that remain.
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