Monday (30-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I finally saw a large butterfly again in my wildflower plot. This time a Tiger Swallowtail. There have been a lot of tiny butterflies and bumblebees, but the Monarch butterflies and the Clearwing Hummingbird moths have stayed away.  While checking the garden towers, I saw that one type of caterpillar has pretty much eaten all of my dill plants. I’m glad that I collected and froze some of the dill earlier. A different type of caterpillar pretty much ate all of my kale plants (almost overnight). I pulled all of the remaining kale and put them into a sealed mulch container. I also got several images of this strange (Darth Vader) spider.





Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.

Wednesday (25-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

After the morning rain, a Monarch Butterfly and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth showed up in my wildflower bed next to the house. There also were a lot of Bumble Bees working the flowers. Up on the patio, the Caterpillar was still eating my Dill herb. The Tomato Hornworm covered with the predatory wasp cocoons was still hanging on. A Stink Bug was feasting on a green tomato — I knew they were vegetarian, but don’t want them eating my vegetables. Finally,  a weird-looking spider (Darth Vader, or out of Aliens) was guarding its web.






Bumble Bee on a Red Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee on a Red Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Caterpiller Eating My Dill. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Caterpiller Eating My Dill. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tomato Hornworm covered by Parasitic Wasp Cocoons. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tomato Hornworm covered by Parasitic Wasp Cocoons. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Stink Bug eating My Tomatoes. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Stink Bug eating My Tomatoes. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Individual images from the slide shows can be viewed here.

Four-Years Ago (27-June-2014) — Spain

Gone to See Europe 2014. Day 27: Semester at Sea, Summer 2014 Semester Voyage. Bilabao, Spain.

Maman the Spider at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Selfie in the upper left corner. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens.

Maman Spider outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 8 mm Fisheye (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/?, 1/320 sec) (David J Mathre)
Maman Spider outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 8 mm Fisheye (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/?, 1/320 sec) (David J Mathre)

Monday (18-June-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Late Spring Nature in New Jersey.

This hairy spider spent the day guarding my front door. I don’t know why it kept its rear leg up in the air anytime I got close to take a picture. During my daily walkabout I found a number of flowers (daisy, poppy, California poppy, Moth Mullen, yellow prickly pear cactus, etc). Still not as many as last year when I had the electric fence up. I see on my security video cameras the deer coming up every night and nibbling on the plants before they can bloom.

Hairy Spider at my Front Door. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Hairy Spider at my Front Door. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Daisy. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Daisy. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Day Lily. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Day Lily. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)




Violet Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Violet Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Yucca about to bloom. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Yucca about to bloom. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Black and White Cat trying to Hide Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)
Black and White Cat trying to Hide Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)