Shoot 2023-09-04-100537 — philthompson.me

Birds
Mandel

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Shoot 2023-09-04-100537

This gallery has photos from several recent birding outings, including some to a local wetlands where I saw new lifers: American Avocet, Whimbrel, and Red-necked Phalarope.

I made a quick trip out on a hot afternoon, with wildfire smoke in the air, to catch a glimpse of the Avocet. It was surprisingly large. I wasn't able to get close for a better photo, so I returned to the same location the following day but couldn't find it again.

On another outing, I was just starting my day in the parking lot, grabbing my gear from the car, when I heard an unfamiliar call. Large dark shorebirds were flying around. I started the sound ID feature on the Merlin app, and it quickly gave an ID of Whimbrel, a lifer! I was able to snap a few photos of them before they flew too far away. I wasn't expecting to see this bird. It's always great when a lifer falls into your lap!

On the same Whimbrel outing I was searching specifically for Red-necked Phalarope. I was nearing the end of my route, using binoculars to scan a pond surface looking at swallows, when I saw and instantly recognized two tiny white Phalaropes. I was looking toward the strong sun by then, so I understandably missed the Phalaropes even though I was looking for them. They were small!

My "birds in review" collages can be found here.

Signature

📄 hashes-2023-09-04-100537.txt

📄 hashes-2023-09-04-100537.txt.sig

The above hashes-<date>.txt file contains SHA-256 hashes of all the photos from this shoot. The hashes-<date>.txt.sig is a signature of that hashes file, created with my PGP key. The signature file itself was written to both the Bitcoin Cash and Algorand blockchains, in the OP RETURN and Note fields respectively, using the transactions below. In short, this proves that these photos and the signature both existed at the time the transactions were written to the Bitcoin Cash and Algorand blockchains. This blog post has more details.

view the BCH tx on blockchair.com: f26bb2b7590eca3b68fb57f79495b92d66f8dce84d6fe179d8f4c7372136dbc5

view the ALGO tx on explorer.perawallet.app: 4XGUU3JEGEGPXKV4K7ASKKLBZMHCO7S46Z3VQJAMRLAWNZGKHNYA

2:19PM Sunday August 20, 2023

American Avocet

2:20PM Sunday August 20, 2023

American Avocet

2:21PM Sunday August 20, 2023

Black Tern

2:21PM Sunday August 20, 2023

Black Tern

2:21PM Sunday August 20, 2023

Black Tern

2:28PM Sunday August 20, 2023

American Avocet

2:28PM Sunday August 20, 2023

American Avocet

2:28PM Sunday August 20, 2023

American Avocet

2:30PM Sunday August 20, 2023

American Avocet

9:23AM Monday August 21, 2023

Black Phoebe

9:52AM Monday August 21, 2023

Northern Shoveler

12:01PM Wednesday August 23, 2023

Turkey Vulture

12:01PM Wednesday August 23, 2023

Turkey Vulture

Some Turkey Vultures were flying through the trees in a neighbor's yard. A couple of them perched for a moment to warm themselves in the sunshine. I somehow snapped this photo of one between two tree trunks.