I had made several attempts to see and also to get a good image of this beautiful Northern Shrike. Much of the time involved standing in one area and then letting the bird get close enough and then hopefully get an image where the bird would pop from the background. A week before this image the bird was within 10 to 15 meters of me, but the background was too light, thanks to all the snow. So a week later it was time to try again. By now I knew where to stand, I had to deal with the cold wind hitting me from the back, but the light was good. The shrike went down into the grass near me, I stayed put. It popped up with nothing in its talons and decided to perch on a spruce tree less than ten meters from me. Perfect, with the rest of the trees and willow shrubs far enough back to give me the soft and smooth background, I got the picture.
