Month: August 2012

Sunday (12-August-2012) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. I went for a walk at the Sourland Mountain Preserve today. I was looking to see if the thistles are now in bloom. I first noticed a Clearwing Hummingbird moth at a Joe Pye weed bloom. Further up the trail, I did find that the thistles are now in bloom. I saw many Monarch and Tiger Swallowtail butterflies — then more Clearwing Hummingbird Moths. If the weather is good, I will go back tomorrow with a bigger lens and full tripod.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Joe Pye Weed Bloom. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Joe Pye Weed Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Joe Pye Weed Bloom. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Joe Pye Weed Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Thistle Bloom. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Thistle Bloom. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (10-August-2012) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Harvey the Bullfrog. I took the same image of this bullfrog using a Nikon D4 camera and 400 mm f/2.8 telephoto lens at different apertures. The camera and lens were mounted on a gimbal tripod. This version of the 400 mm lens does not have vibration reduction, but the heavy weight of the lens plus good long lens techniques minimized the impact of vibration due to mirror and shutter motion. The aperture was changed from f/2.8 to f/8 to see the impact on depth of view. The following are significant crops of the original images.

Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 400 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 400 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 560, 400 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bullfrog in a Pond. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 560, 400 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (08-August-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Bald-faced Hornet. I noticed a number of bald-faced hornets that seemed attracted to holly tree leaves. I don’t know if they are trying to get some of the wax off the leaves for their hive. I have not found the hive yet. A couple of years ago they built a basket-ball size hive in my backyard, and made a video. 24-July-2010 and images last year 23-July-2011 I understand that the bald faced hornet is easily upset, and unlike a honey bee is able to inflict multiple stings — so do want to find the hive.

Bald-faced Hornet on a Holly Leaf. Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bald-faced Hornet on a Holly Leaf. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Tuesday (07-August-2012) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

The Lonely Goose. I’ve been watching this Canada goose at the Sourland Mountain Preserve for a while now. Unlike its siblings, it never left. I have a feeling that it can not fly. When ever threatened, it just moves into the pond. Other Canada geese stop by to visit, but this one never leaves. It gets enough to eat as it is almost fully grown. I will continue to watch it, but not sure that it will be able to survive a cold winter.

This was my first outing with my new Nikon D4 camera. I had it connected to a 400 mm f/2.8 lens. I forgot how heavy this lens is, and had it mounted on a gimble tripod. This is a pre-VR version of the lens, but it is heavy enough to absorb much of the camera shutter & mirror vibration.

The Lonely Goose. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 360, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)
The Lonely Goose. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 400 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 360, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)

GPS: N40°28’24 W74°41’39

Monday (06-August-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Squirrel Eating a Mushroom. My sixth day of Retirement. I took a series of images of rabbits and this squirrel while sitting in my car in my driveway while listening to “A Good American” on SiriusXM. Now that I am not commuting 3+ hours a day I can photograph the local wildlife while listening to books on satellite radio. You might wonder why I am in the car listening to the satellite radio — I don’t have a receiver for SiriusXM in the house, and I am hooked on listening to several of the books being read at this time. I was also waiting for UPS to make a delivery of a Nikon D4 camera. The delivery was supposed to arrive last Friday. UPS claimed that I wasn’t present to sign for the package on Friday — but I had been sitting in the driveway listening to “Three Junes” on SiriusXM at the same time (5:03 PM) that UPS indicated that I was not present. I guess that the driver wanted to go home early on a summer Friday. The package did arrive tonight at ~6:30 PM. Unlike the first wave of D4 deliveries, this one did not include a XQD memory card and XQD card reader. Hope to have some images from the D4 to share tomorrow.

Squirrel Eating a Mushroom. Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)
Squirrel Eating a Mushroom. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)