Shoot 2025-03-20-094027 — philthompson.me

Birds
Mandel

Shoot 2025-03-20-094027

March isn't a terribly good month for birding, but I've come across a few things to take photos of so far. Highlights include a lifer Horned Lark, my first good look at a Pileated Woodpecker this year, and a great encounter with some Yellow-rumped Warblers and Western Bluebirds. I had seen Western Bluebirds around town a few times, but this was my first chance to get photos of them in a while. I couldn't believe it when one of them posed for a minute on a perfect perch!

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

Signature

📄 hashes-2025-03-20-094027.txt

📄 hashes-2025-03-20-094027.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: 5d4dd266705b2ab548ead6ea4e02b4b2f6875e44f04f6c61f610094467e74592

view the ALGO tx on explorer.perawallet.app: J5V6XW2WVH75BFB67DA4OQAU4K3RKNJ46JRBHDREOE62LMXDQMSA

12:45PM Sunday March 02, 2025

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)

12:45PM Sunday March 02, 2025

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)

I've seen a few (this is the third I think) Yellow/Red-shafted hybrid flickers this year, and they were all female. They were in different parts of town, so I doubt they've all been the same individual. This one has only a little red visible in the nape, but it's clearly there.

12:45PM Sunday March 02, 2025

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted), Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)

12:45PM Sunday March 02, 2025

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted), Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)

1:13PM Sunday March 02, 2025

Western Meadowlark

There are at least 29 Western Meadowlarks in this photo. I counted them with my Click Counter app.

8:31AM Monday March 03, 2025

Horned Lark

8:31AM Monday March 03, 2025

Horned Lark

8:31AM Monday March 03, 2025

Horned Lark

8:31AM Monday March 03, 2025

Horned Lark

This is my lifer Horned Lark! If he wasn't singing I would have missed him.

8:31AM Monday March 03, 2025

Horned Lark

8:54AM Monday March 03, 2025

Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier

I'm not sure why this eagle and harrier were having some sort of dispute in the sky. Perhaps the harrier was holding prey, but it's hard to tell.

8:54AM Monday March 03, 2025

Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier

8:55AM Monday March 03, 2025

Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier

9:13AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Red Crossbill

9:19AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Pileated Woodpecker

9:19AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Pileated Woodpecker

9:19AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Pileated Woodpecker

10:37AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Northern Harrier

This pair of Northern Harriers was flying much higher in the sky than I normally see them. They were doing some acrobatics and maneuvers in the air, which I've seen various harriers doing a few times in February and March.

10:56AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Red-tailed Hawk

10:57AM Wednesday March 05, 2025

Red-shouldered Hawk

10:08AM Friday March 07, 2025

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)

10:08AM Friday March 07, 2025

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)

10:14AM Friday March 07, 2025

Bald Eagle

I saw this big nest across the river, and took a photo in case any birds were visible in the photo. Turns out there was a bird: a Bald Eagle is on the nest, and barely visible in the photo.

10:32AM Friday March 07, 2025

American Kestrel

8:38AM Monday March 10, 2025

Wild Turkey

This turkey wasn't bothered by me. She slowly walked right by as I crouched to get her photo. This was in a popular hiking/walking area, so perhaps she's part of the tame flock that lives around that area.

12:58PM Wednesday March 12, 2025

Bushtit

12:58PM Wednesday March 12, 2025

Bushtit

1:01PM Wednesday March 12, 2025

Bushtit

1:01PM Wednesday March 12, 2025

Bushtit

1:01PM Wednesday March 12, 2025

Bushtit

8:55PM Thursday March 13, 2025

This is a Photoshop composite of the Moon just when the lunar eclipse was about to begin. It was made from two exposures: one exposed for the Moon and one exposed for the clouds and trees.

11:58PM Thursday March 13, 2025

I woke up at midnight to take this lunar eclipse photo. I wasn't prepared for how apparently dark the moon would be during totality, and didn't have my tripod. The exposures were 1/2 second and, shooting handheld, they were all coming out blurry. I steadied myself against a fence and took a bunch of exposures, and this one came out the best. Perhaps during the next lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026, I'll try again with a tripod. I was pretty lucky to have somewhat clear skies though, which is rare for this time of year.