Month: July 2019

Thursday (18-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with an even lighter kit than yesterday — Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Nikon discontinued this camera and lens, but I have found the camera and telephoto/zoom combination to be excellent for travel and bird photography. At 300 mm its field of view is equivalent to 810 mm on a full frame camera. The combination weighs just over 1 kg (2.2 lbs) vs. 7 kg (15.4 lbs) for a Nikon D5 camera and 800 mm f/5.6 lens. With the lens VR (vibration reduction) and fast focus it is easy to use hand held. Using the Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens I discovered that I have two types of Clearwing moths visiting my wildflower meadow. Until today I only thought I was seeing the Hummingbird Clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe). There were several working the Zinnia flowers, and I noticed one was slightly smaller and appeared to a a brighter yellow back. While reviewing the images it was clear that it was different, and after doing some online searches found that the new one is a Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis). The Hummingbird Clearwing has lighter colored (or white) legs vs. the Snowberry Clearwing has black legs. The Snowberry Clearwing also has a black band that goes through its eyes.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) feeding on a pink Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (53.4 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (34.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day progressing to heavy rain in the afternoon. So I ended up using 19 kWh more energy that the solar panels could produce.

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Wednesday (17-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back hurts and it is really hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with a much lighter kit — Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Bumble Bees, Butterflies (Skippers? and Monarch), and of course the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. In addition to the Zinnia flowers, one Hummingbird Clearwing spent some time feeding on Larkspur (Delphinium) flowers. Later in the evening, before it started raining a small herd of deer passed through the backyard. I captured these images with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. There were only three fawns (used to be four), and one of the fawns has some open sores on its face. Three wary does stayed nearby. They were all being harassed by flies.

Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Larkspur Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Larkspur Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (67.9 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (71.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds as the day progressed with the outdoor temperatures increasing, but still generated about 3 kWh more power that I used. The GeoThermal HVAC heat pump needed to run at full capacity (stage 2) part of the afternoon just to keep up with cooling the house. It will be interesting to see how the GeoThermal system does Friday to Sunday as the outside temperatures will be approaching 100 °F (38 °C).


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Tuesday (16-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. The wildflower meadows I planted spring are now in bloom and attracting lots and lots of bee, bumblebees, butterflies, hummingbird clearwing moths, and birds. Each attracted to different types, and even colors of flowers. Today I went out with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens with a 2.0 TC-E III teleconverter (effective 600 mm f/5.6). Not quite as heavy as the 600 mm f/4, but still heavy. Rather than just hand-holding, I used a mono-pod to help stabilize the setup. I was looking to get higher resolution images. Even in bright sunlight, it was slow to focus (lots of hunting). The new butterfly for the day is some type of Skipper. The Monarch butterflies prefer the red and pink Zinnia flowers (and an Orange Marigold). The Hummingbird Clearwing moths prefer the pink Zinnia flowers. Before there were as many Zinnias, they were also attracted to the pink Cosmos flowers (now ignored).

Skipper? butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + 2.0 TC-EIII teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Skipper? butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + 2.0 TC-EIII teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (56.8 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (81.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun but it is getting warmer outside keeping the Geothermal HVAC busy. Still generated 25 kWh more power that I used for the day. Rain predicted for tomorrow (needed in the wildflower meadow) and even hotter for the weekend.

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Monday (15-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. More images of Clearwing Hummingbird moths in flight. In two of the images you can also see a bumblebee in flight to compare the relative sizes. Butterflies include Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, Painted Lady, Orange Sulphur, and either a Duskywing or Sootywing.


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Orange Sulfur Butterfly (Colias eurytheme). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Orange Sulfur Butterfly (Colias eurytheme). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Juvenal's Duskywing, Horace's Duskywing, or Common Sootywing (best guess the latter). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Juvenal’s Duskywing, Horace’s Duskywing, or Common Sootywing (best guess the latter). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (51.2 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (86.14 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun so generated 35 kWh more power that I used for the day.

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Sunday (14-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. The Clearwing Hummingbird moths found the back wildflower meadow where the dwarf Zinnia flowers are starting to bloom. I saw at least three of the Hummingbird moths feeding off the Zinnia flowers. To be different today I am just showing images of the Hummingbird moths in flight.

Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clerawing Hummingbird Moth in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (60.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (74.81 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Not quite as much sun out today, but it was still hot out and the Geothermal HVAC system was on continuously most of the the afternoon into evening. Still generated more power that I’m using. The weekly summary is 455 kWh solar power generated and 392 kWh power used for a weekly surplus of 63 kWh.

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