I went back to the coast, again looking for Elegant Tern, and found a couple this time! They flew in circles in the area for a minute, and they were kind of loud in announcing their presence. I also got another lifer: Baird's Sandpiper. This sandpiper was kind of by itself, not hanging out with the small flock of Western and Least Sandpipers that were also there. I noticed the extra-long wings, and knew what it was. Finally! I've not had luck in looking for these birds the last few years. Aside from those birds, I also spent a few minutes laying down in some dry sand, and the sandpiper flock eventually came close. A juvenile Semipalmated Plover was the most curious of the bunch. The photos didn't come out super sharp but it was fun to spend a few minutes at eye level with these birds.
These photos are © 2026 Phil Thompson, all rights reserved.
My "birds in review" collages can be found here.
Signature
📄 hashes-2026-08-27-152418.txt
📄 hashes-2026-08-27-152418.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: eb1e54835b2b61789b65d85003cff28d5f7f20b82732b91630d936b5e1ad20f2
view the ALGO tx on explorer.perawallet.app: ZBKENA5U5YTDVTLEMFDBG4JKDGMS3Y7YSIB4SLJZ4C46ET4LF73Q
10:23AM Thursday August 20, 2026
California Gull
10:24AM Thursday August 20, 2026
California Gull
10:27AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:27AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper (Juvenile)
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper (Juvenile)
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper (Juvenile)
10:30AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper (Juvenile)
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:32AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Elegant Tern
10:36AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:36AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:36AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper
10:36AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper
10:36AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:45AM Thursday August 20, 2026
California Gull
10:45AM Thursday August 20, 2026
California Gull
10:52AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper
10:52AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper
10:52AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper
10:52AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:52AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:52AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:53AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:53AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
10:54AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Baird's Sandpiper
11:02AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:03AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:03AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Western Sandpiper (Juvenile)
11:04AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Least Sandpiper
11:04AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:04AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:04AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:04AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:05AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:05AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:06AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:06AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:06AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Semipalmated Plover (Juvenile)
11:06AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Least Sandpiper
11:24AM Thursday August 20, 2026
Clark's Grebe
11:38AM Thursday August 20, 2026
11:22AM Friday August 21, 2026
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)
11:22AM Friday August 21, 2026
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)
11:23AM Friday August 21, 2026
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)
11:23AM Friday August 21, 2026
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)
12:23PM Friday August 21, 2026
Brown-headed Cowbird (Juvenile)
12:23PM Friday August 21, 2026
Lazuli Bunting
12:24PM Friday August 21, 2026
Lazuli Bunting
12:24PM Friday August 21, 2026
Lazuli Bunting
12:24PM Friday August 21, 2026
Lazuli Bunting
7:04AM Saturday August 22, 2026
Bullock's Oriole