This final gallery from April starts with a crow chasing off what I'm pretty sure is the male of a pair of Cooper's Hawks that are nesting near our yard. Next, we have a Bluebird encounter that resulted in some nice shots, and a Spotted Towhee gathering nesting material.
On the next day, I photographed a pair of immature Bald Eagles that flew overhead. They both had their mouths open the entire time, but I think they were flying silently. As I reached the parking lot I lucked into a nice photo opportunity with a Black Phoebe in a field of wildflowers.
These photos are © 2026 Phil Thompson, all rights reserved.
My "birds in review" collages can be found here.
Signature
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The above hashes-<date>.txt file contains SHA-256 hashes of all the photos
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3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American CrowThis hawk looks like a Cooper's, but I was leaning that way before even looking closely at the photos because a pair is nesting near this area. The outer tail feathers appear shorter than the inner ones, but not in all of these shots, so it's hard to tell. The eyes look too small on the head for Sharp-shinned, and look fierce rather than bug-eyed. The nape is gray, so not dark enough to match the head like on a Sharp-shinned. The head is large and protrudes forward when the wings are outstretched. And lastly, the overall size is comparable to the crow, which seems like a better fit for male Cooper's than female Sharp-shinned.
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
3:21PM Sunday April 26, 2026
Cooper's Hawk, American Crow
8:19AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:20AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:20AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:22AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:24AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:24AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:25AM Monday April 27, 2026
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Savannah Sparrow
8:25AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:25AM Monday April 27, 2026
Western Bluebird
8:31AM Monday April 27, 2026
Spotted TowheeWithout a side-by-side comparison I'm not really able to distinguish a male from a female, but the Birds of the World account for Spotted Towhee plainly states that only females do nest-building. I guess the head and back are a little more gray than pure black, and the sides are maybe slightly more muted rufous red, when compared to the singing male below in this gallery.
8:31AM Monday April 27, 2026
Spotted TowheeI'm not sure whether "AI" retouched images are going to be viewed favorably in the future... so I've been thinking of making separate copies, like this one, of any of those. In this case a blurry background element was kind of obtrusive, so I think that's a fine use for AI retouching like in Lightroom Classic.
8:31AM Monday April 27, 2026
Spotted Towhee
8:31AM Monday April 27, 2026
Spotted Towhee
8:31AM Monday April 27, 2026
Spotted Towhee
8:31AM Monday April 27, 2026
Spotted Towhee
11:59AM Monday April 27, 2026
House Finch
8:39AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
8:39AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
9:19AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Hermit Thrush
9:22AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Bald Eagle (Juvenile)
9:23AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Bald Eagle (Juvenile)
9:23AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Bald Eagle (Juvenile)
9:23AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Bald Eagle (Juvenile)
9:38AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Western Kingbird
9:45AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Red-winged Blackbird
9:45AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Red-winged Blackbird
9:49AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:49AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:49AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:49AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:49AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:49AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Black Phoebe
9:52AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Spotted Towhee
9:52AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Spotted Towhee
9:52AM Tuesday April 28, 2026
Spotted Towhee
4:41PM Wednesday April 29, 2026
Black-headed Grosbeak
4:42PM Wednesday April 29, 2026
Black-headed Grosbeak
9:05AM Thursday April 30, 2026
Lazuli Bunting
9:35AM Thursday April 30, 2026
Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)While hearing a Hammond's Flycatcher, I got a nice look at this bird — it had a longer tail than expected and shorter primary extensions. Not the Hammond's! I next noticed the strong teardrop eyering, peaked crown, and overall yellow/green color, indicating Western Flycatcher. It made a couple very high-pitched "tink" calls as well. This might be the only one of these I photograph this year.
9:37AM Thursday April 30, 2026
Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)
9:37AM Thursday April 30, 2026
Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)
9:37AM Thursday April 30, 2026
Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)
9:37AM Thursday April 30, 2026
Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)