Odd Shrike at the ranch

Saturday, September 25, 2010 I took some pictures of a weird Shrike at the ranch. I think it is an eastern subspecies of Loggerhead Shrike??? The gray on the back was blue-grayish. Much lighter than the local breeding loggerheads. The bill base on the bottom was horn colored. The gray on the head was violet-gray and the tail was long and ended with a notch. It did not appear to have any white along its side??? There was some subtle pink-orangish on the sides of the breast. The only Northern Shrikes I have ever seen were juveniles and quite brown. The head shape looks odd for a loggerhead also? A very odd bird.

9/25/2010 Little Blue Heron at ranch!

Today we had offshore winds, (96 F.) Santanas? Then this evening, walking around perimeter of the ranch near the vineyard, I saw a blue heron flying around and figured it was a great blue. But then the bird flew right over me and it was a Little Blue Heron! I followed it to an ag pond and got a few good pictures.

There are 20+ records for Santa Barbara County, but the ranch is very close to the San Luis Obispo County line and Marantz's Birds of SLO only has two records. This maybe the first Santa Maria Valley record?