It's been cold and dry here, and I am fortunate to have seen a few good birds recently including Short-billed Gull on a brief visit to the coast and Snowy Owl on another trip. Snowy Egret and Barn Swallow were also flagged as rare in eBird. I also got good looks at a pair of lifer Trumpeter Swans!
These photos are © 2026 Phil Thompson, all rights reserved.
My "birds in review" collages can be found here.
Signature
📄 hashes-2026-01-26-095000.txt
📄 hashes-2026-01-26-095000.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: 2c9f83742d0350a4f054c223480067578239c5fa27708092f2e84f7ba619694e
view the ALGO tx on explorer.perawallet.app: XJPIF6EPXUW4XA7YGRCPAAPOSJXLP57JCIIVPUP6WYXFSW55LBCQ
11:22AM Monday January 12, 2026
Short-billed Gull
11:22AM Monday January 12, 2026
Short-billed Gull
11:23AM Monday January 12, 2026
Short-billed Gull
11:23AM Monday January 12, 2026
Short-billed Gull
11:35AM Tuesday January 13, 2026
Snowy Egret
11:35AM Tuesday January 13, 2026
Snowy Egret
3:44PM Monday January 19, 2026
Sharp-shinned HawkThis hawk was super tiny (about the size of a Jay), so that's the main field "mark" I'm using to distinguish it from Cooper's Hawk. The tail also ends with a pale brown band, not a dark band or dark band with white edge. The legs are certainly skinny and the eye doesn't have the fierce brow appearance of a Cooper's.
3:45PM Monday January 19, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
3:45PM Monday January 19, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
3:45PM Monday January 19, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
3:45PM Monday January 19, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
3:46PM Monday January 19, 2026
Sharp-shinned Hawk
4:13PM Monday January 19, 2026
Ring-billed Gull
4:13PM Monday January 19, 2026
Ring-billed Gull
4:13PM Monday January 19, 2026
Ring-billed Gull
4:15PM Monday January 19, 2026
Cackling Goose
4:15PM Monday January 19, 2026
Cackling Goose
4:19PM Monday January 19, 2026
Cackling Goose
4:33PM Monday January 19, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
10:45AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Trumpeter Swan
10:46AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Trumpeter Swan
10:47AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Trumpeter Swan
10:47AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Trumpeter Swan
11:43AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Green Heron
11:43AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Green Heron
11:43AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Green Heron
11:43AM Wednesday January 21, 2026
Green Heron
9:30AM Friday January 23, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
9:30AM Friday January 23, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
9:30AM Friday January 23, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
9:32AM Friday January 23, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
9:32AM Friday January 23, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
9:33AM Friday January 23, 2026
Belted Kingfisher
10:00AM Friday January 23, 2026
Green Heron
10:09AM Friday January 23, 2026
White-throated Sparrow
10:10AM Friday January 23, 2026
White-throated Sparrow
10:25AM Friday January 23, 2026
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
10:25AM Friday January 23, 2026
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
10:30AM Friday January 23, 2026
Red-tailed HawkThis hawk has many narrow bands across its tail, which looks to be a good field mark for immature Red-tailed.
10:30AM Friday January 23, 2026
Red-tailed Hawk
10:30AM Friday January 23, 2026
Red-tailed Hawk
10:34AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:34AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:40AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:42AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:42AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:42AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:42AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:42AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:42AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:43AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:43AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:43AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:43AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:43AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
10:43AM Friday January 23, 2026
Barn Swallow
4:12PM Saturday January 24, 2026
Snowy Owl
4:12PM Saturday January 24, 2026
Snowy Owl
4:13PM Saturday January 24, 2026
Snowy OwlThis Snowy Owl was very hard to see among the piles of driftwood. I'm glad I was able to get a look — it might be a few years until the next one comes through.
4:13PM Saturday January 24, 2026
Snowy Owl
4:13PM Saturday January 24, 2026
Snowy Owl