Happy new year! I've been out birding a few times here in the PNW, not dealing with cold or rain as much but instead... fog! When it's been clear I've enjoyed seeing lots of wintering waterfowl and gulls. Especially noticeable this year so far, for me, are the Belted Kingfishers. It seems like there's been one everywhere I go.
These photos are © 2026 Phil Thompson, all rights reserved.
My "birds in review" collages can be found here.
Signature
📄 hashes-2026-01-16-114608.txt
📄 hashes-2026-01-16-114608.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: 5591974f6e8ae0d6d54cdc4dd7337c75f37bd79a9067a689427e376c52257458
view the ALGO tx on explorer.perawallet.app: Q52CQMABSMNKHIB3PC474INJGA45WGJFNJS7S7B63YXDWDNTX4BQ
12:49PM Friday January 02, 2026
American White PelicanNot a great photo but it does show what is supposedly an unusually high count of American White Pelican for this time of year.
12:59PM Friday January 02, 2026
Canada Goose
12:59PM Friday January 02, 2026
Canada Goose
1:00PM Friday January 02, 2026
Great Blue Heron
1:00PM Friday January 02, 2026
Great Blue Heron
1:00PM Friday January 02, 2026
Great Blue Heron
1:00PM Friday January 02, 2026
Great Blue Heron
1:00PM Friday January 02, 2026
Great Blue Heron
1:00PM Friday January 02, 2026
Canada Goose, Cackling Goose
1:01PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:01PM Friday January 02, 2026
Redhead
1:01PM Friday January 02, 2026
Redhead
1:01PM Friday January 02, 2026
Redhead
1:05PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:05PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:05PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:05PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:09PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:23PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
1:23PM Friday January 02, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
8:58AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Northern Harrier
8:58AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Northern Harrier
9:21AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:21AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:22AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:22AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:22AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:22AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:30AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:30AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:30AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:33AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Sharp-shinned HawkThis did not strike me as a Sharp-shinned when I saw it in person. But in the photos it clearly has a "bug-eyed" look, dark nape that doesn't contrast much with the crown, and a squared off tail without a strong white terminal band.
9:33AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
9:33AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
9:33AM Sunday January 04, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
12:42PM Monday January 05, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
12:43PM Monday January 05, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
11:21AM Tuesday January 06, 2026
California Gull
11:28AM Tuesday January 06, 2026
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)In person, the back and wingtips looked more pale gray. That lead me to believe this was an American Herring x Glaucous-Winged "Cook Inlet" gull, but the photos show a bit more color in the back and wingtips, and the bill is a bit too orange and bulbous. I've changed my mind and am calling this a Western x Glaucous-Winged "Olympic" gull.
11:32AM Tuesday January 06, 2026
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)
11:33AM Tuesday January 06, 2026
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)
11:44AM Tuesday January 06, 2026
Red-breasted Sapsucker