Northern Shrike photo courtesy Sue Wagoner

Early in the winter season of '07 - '08, when reports of Northern Shrikes in the area seemed unusually high, Jon Duerr decided to document the birds' sightings. He asked that people contact him with the date and location of their shrike sightings. Birders responded. Last year five Northern Shrike were reported; this year eighteen! Two of those eighteen birds were spotted at once (a rare winter sighting of a pair) during a regularly scheduled Kane County Audubon birdwalk at Nelson Lake/Dick Young Forest Preserve on January 5^th.

Following is a summary of Jon's compilation:

• Multiple sightings at Aurora West Forest Preserve
• Multiple sightings at Burnidge Forest Preserve
• Multiple sightings at Dick Young (Nelson Lake) Forest Preserve; on one occasion a group of KCA birders viewed a pair of shrikes!
• Multiple sightings at Jon Duerr Forest Preserve
• Multiple sightings at Fermilab by Derek Strom
• Multiple sightings at Otter Creek Park by Dennis Kania
• 12/15/07 at Hampshire Forest Preserve by Karen Lund
• 12/20/07 at Mill Creek Subdivision by Jon & Joy Duerr
• 12/26/07 at marsh near Huntley by Richard Wilson
• 12/27/07 at a Lily Lake farm by Derek Strom
• 01/27/08 at Binnie Forest Preserve by Dan Williams
• 2/15/08 DuPage Airport by Jon & Joy Duerr (although in Dupage County, the bird could be seen from Kane)
• 2/26/08 at Campton Forest Preserve by Liz Garrity
• 03/01/08 at Grunwald Forest Preserve by Chris Madsen
• 03/06/08 at Campton Hills Park by Dennis Kania
• 03/08/08 Big Rock area by Doug Stotz
• 03/09/08 at Prairie Green on Peck Road in Geneva by Jon & Joy Duerr

For those who like their information presented visually rather than literally, here's a link to a map with the sighting locations plotted.