April wildlife observations in south-eastern Pennsylvania: repeated encounters with small animals

In previous posts about April wildlife photography, I covered these topics:

• Overview: Photography meets citizen science: April's wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania
• First encounters (part 1): Learning photography with wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania: First encounters in the month of April
• First encounters (part 2): Learning photography with wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania: First encounters in the month of April - part 2

For today, we're going to look at the small animals that I encountered before April, and again in April. Here are the animals:

Species	First Sighting	April Sightings
American Red Squirrel	03/22/26	2026-04-07
		2026-04-08
		2026/04/03
		2026/04/21
Blue Jay	03/21/26	2026-04-08
		2026/04/10
		2026/04/21
		2026/04/24
Brown-headed Cowbird	03/26/26	2026-04-10
Dark-eyed Junco	03/14/26	2026-04-07
Mourning Dove	03/21/26	2026/04/01
		2026/04/09
		2026/04/24
		2026/04/28
		2026/04/29
Northern Cardinal	03/30/26	2026/04/09
		2026/04/18
		2026/04/22
		2026/04/27
Northern Flicker	03/25/26	2026/04/07
		2026/04/22
		2026/04/29
		2026/04/30
Red-bellied Woodpecker	03/01/26	2026-04-08
		2026/04/03
		2026/04/04
White-breasted Nuthatch	03/29/26	2026-04-08

All 9 of these species were observed from my own back yard. This is a lot of variety, but I don't have much to write about any of them, so this is mainly just going to be a photo blog. I believe all of these animals are native to the region and have "least concern" conservation status. Here is a link to all of my April Observations on iNaturalist

American Red Squirrel

Photos from most of the encounters weren't very good. I was struggling with lighting, because they tend to position themselves in shaded surroundings. These are all from the April 21 encounter.

Nikon P1000: ƒ/6.3; 1/500; ISO800 324mm (75X, 1803 equiv. for 35mm)	Nikon P1000: ƒ/5; 1/500; ISO400 95.8mm (22X, 533 equiv. for 35mm)
Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/500; ISO800; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv. for 35mm)	Nikon P1000: ƒ/7.1; 1/800; ISO800; 395mm (91X, 219m equiv. for 35mm)

Blue Jay

Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/1000; ISO800; 135mm (31X, 751 equiv. for 35mm) April 8, 2026 Not a great photo, but you can see it flying a short distance between perches.	Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/1000; ISO800 252mm (58X, 1402 equiv. for 35mm) April 8, 2026
Nikon P1000: ƒ/7.1; 1/1000; ISO800; 432mm(100X, 2404 equiv. for 35mm) April 10, 2026	Nikon P1000: ƒ/7.1; 1/1000; ISO800; 432mm(100X, 2404 equiv. for 35mm) April 10, 2026
Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/320; ISO100; 359mm (83X, 2000 equiv. for 35mm); April 21, 2026	Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/1250; ISO400; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv); April 24, 2026

Brown-headed Cowbird

As mentioned, previously, the Brown-headed Cowbird is a species of deadbeats (technically called "brood parasites"). They lay their eggs in the nests of other species and let the owner of the invaded nest do the child rearing.

Nikon P1000: ƒ/7.1; 1/1600; ISO400; 467mm (108X, 2599 equiv. for 35mm); April 10, 2026	Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/1600; ISO450; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv. for 35mm) April 10, 2026

Dark-eyed Junco

Previously seen in March, and only seen once afterward. I haven't photographed any more of these during the rest of April or May (so far).

Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/2000; ISO800; 234mm (54X, 1302 equiv. for 35mm); April 7, 2026 This image was too dark, so I added some brightness in Google Photos.

Mourning Dove

With their grey coloring, these birds are not very photogenic. Especially because I only tend to encounter them when it's getting close to dusk. I have lots of mourning dove pictures, but they basically all look the same, so I'm only posting two.

Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/500; ISO800; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv. for 35mm); April 1, 2026	Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/640; ISO220; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv. for 35mm) April 24, 2026 The picture was dark, so I adjusted lighting and contrast in Google Photos.

Northern Cardinal

One of the most charismatic birds in this post, but they're very hard to photograph. They spook easily, and they tend to hang around behind leaves and branches. There are basically only 2 captures that are worth including here.

Nikon P1000: ƒ/6.3; 1/800; ISO800 288mm (67X, 1602 equiv. for 35mm) April 9, 2026	Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/2000; ISO800; 234mm (54X, 1302 equiv. for 35mm) April 18, 2026

Woodpeckers

The Northern Flicker and Red-bellied Woodpecker are both types of woodpeckers, so I'll put them into a single table. With the number of sightings, I obviously can't include photos from all observations. That would get pretty repetitive. Here's a representative sample, though.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/640; ISO800; 198mm (46X, 1102 equiv. for 35mm); April 3, 2026	Red-Bellied Woodpecker Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/1250; ISO800 252mm (58X, 1402 equiv. for 35mm);April 4, 2026 at Marsh Creek State Park
Northern Flicker P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/1600; ISO800 270mm (62X, 1502 equiv. for 35mm); April 7, 2026	Red-bellied Woodpecker Nikon P1000: ƒ/7.1; 1/1000; ISO800; 467mm (108X, 2599 equiv. for 35mm); April 8, 2026
Northern Flicker Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/250; ISO100; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv. for 35mm); April 22, 2026 Lighting and contrast adjustments were made with Google Photos.	Northern Flicker Nikon P1000: ƒ/8; 1/200; ISO400; 539mm (125X, 3000 equiv. for 35mm); April 30, 2026

White-breasted Nuthatch

This species was only encountered once during the month of April, and probably not at all during May.

Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/1000; ISO800; 252mm (58X, 1402 equiv. for 35mm); April 8, 2026	Nikon P1000: ƒ/5.6; 1/1000; ISO800; 252mm (58X, 1402 equiv. for 35mm); April 8, 2026

As with this series of posts in April, I saved the raptors for last, so check back for that in a week or so.

However, the Cooper's Hawk in the previous post was almost certainly the raptor highlight of the month.

Thank you for your attention!

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All photos above were taken by me with a Nikon P1000 camera. I'm sharing them under the CC BY 4.0 license (share & adapt freely with attribution to the original source).