Shoot 2024-01-23-125317 — philthompson.me

Birds
Mandel

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Shoot 2024-01-23-125317

The last couple weeks have been busy! I've chased a few lifers and county birds, got a new yard bird, and had some unusual bird activity following the ice storm here on the west coast.

I went out to some local open farm area to try to see a lifer Golden Eagle. I saw a bunch of Bald Eagles, as expected, but didn't feel comfortable parked on the shoulder of a farm road waiting to see the Golden Eagle.

The next day, I went out to try to find some Canvasbacks, and again didn't find my target bird. I did photograph some flying Common Mergansers, which I don't think I'd seen before.

Then we got hit by the ice storm, and spent the better part of a week unable to walk around outside let alone drive anywhere. But there was some great birding. The local birds showed what incredible survivors they are, starting with an American Pipit in the yard. Just this past fall I made a few trips out to locate these birds in some farm fields, and finally got them as a lifer bird. And here one was right in my yard! Apparently these birds had to abandon their frozen habitat, and disperse in the region in search of food. They were sighted in small groups in many unusual residential areas. I believe this individual returned a few times the following day as well, but with its tail entirely frozen!

The following day, aside from the frozen tail Pipit, I got a good number of icy/snowy photos.

Next, I made a trip out to see a new county bird: Pygmy Nuthatch! It seemed like were several in the park, but they were pretty high in the trees. I was able to get some poor photos, but good enough for the positive ID.

I also made a trip out to a nearby neighborhood to try to catch a glimpse of a new lifer, and rare county bird, a male Costa's Hummingbird. On my first trip there, there was all kinds of neighborhood noise and commotion (including gas leaf blowers, a street sweeper truck, etc) but I'm pretty sure I heard him calling. On my second visit a few days later, I was lucky enough to hear him clearly singing again, and was able to get some photos.

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

Signature

📄 hashes-2024-01-23-125317.txt

📄 hashes-2024-01-23-125317.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: 58798d07cd7951650369092a0cb7a36716bedfe5e6b44418636c816ba2f6a4e4

view the ALGO tx on explorer.perawallet.app: CE7LHK7A6UFHH2GD33KQUG52T54ZQUP5GU4KHMCXCJOLJLP6YFGQ

10:18AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Bald Eagle (Juvenile)

10:18AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Bald Eagle (Juvenile)

10:19AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Bald Eagle (Juvenile)

10:19AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Bald Eagle (Juvenile)

10:19AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Bald Eagle (Juvenile)

11:24AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Varied Thrush

11:25AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Varied Thrush

11:25AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Varied Thrush

11:25AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

Varied Thrush

11:40AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

White-throated Sparrow

11:41AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

White-throated Sparrow

11:41AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

White-throated Sparrow

11:41AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

White-throated Sparrow

11:41AM Wednesday January 10, 2024

White-throated Sparrow

9:58AM Thursday January 11, 2024

Common Merganser

9:58AM Thursday January 11, 2024

Common Merganser

9:58AM Thursday January 11, 2024

Common Merganser

11:26AM Sunday January 14, 2024

Bushtit

My new suet feeder, mounted 10 or so feet above the ground. Hopefully it'll entice some more woodpeckers to visit the property.

11:26AM Sunday January 14, 2024

Bushtit

1:55PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

New yard bird!

1:55PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:56PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

This Pipit was finding all kinds of stuff to eat in the icy yard, including this pillbug.

1:56PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:56PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:56PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:56PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:56PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:57PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

1:59PM Monday January 15, 2024

American Pipit

9:14AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:15AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:15AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:18AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:19AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

White-breasted Nuthatch

9:19AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Red-breasted Nuthatch

9:20AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:20AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

I think this is my first photo of two Hermit Thrushes in the same frame. You can make out the out-of-focus bird flying in to chase off the one perched on the fence.

9:24AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:24AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Hermit Thrush

9:24AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

9:27AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)

9:41AM Tuesday January 16, 2024

American Pipit

I think this is the same bird from the previous day. I heard a noise while it foraged on the frozen yard, and it turned out to be its frozen tail dragging along the ice.