Month: March 2020

Thursday (26-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Another sign that spring has arrived. Dandelions starting to bloom.

Dandelion Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 1250, 80 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Dandelion Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 1250, 80 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.2 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (71.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sunshine. A surplus of 10.3 kWh.

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Wednesday (25-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

There were a number of birds out today. Several Juncos feeding on the ground, a House Finch, Marsh Wren, and several Northern Cardinal feeding at the bird feeder. A “murder” of Black Crows were working the lawn looking for earthworms. The earthworms were out because the ground is saturated. I haven’t seen any Robins yet this spring that would also be after the earthworms. The crows attracted the attention of a Turkey Vulture that landed looking for something to eat. The crows quickly joined together making a lot of noise and then chasing the turkey vulture away.

Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
March Wren. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
March Wren. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)



Individual images from the slideshows can be found in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (60.8 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (10.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy and rainy all day. A deficit of 50.0 kWh.

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Wednesday (25-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Spring Nighttime Nature in New Jersey.

Raccoon fourth night in a row. If it keeps coming back, I may need to find the trap before I start planting in the GrowTowers.

Daily Electric Energy Used (60.8 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (10.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy and rainy all day. A deficit of 50.0 kWh.

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Tuesday (24-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Raccoon third night in a row. If it keeps coming back, I may need to find the trap before I start planting in the Grow Towers.

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.8 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (57.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun. A deficit of 2.4 kWh. Power was out for a couple of hours in the morning. For safety reasons, power from my solar panels is disconnected when the external power supply is down. I don’t know the reason for the power outage, but when I went online to report it got a message from PSE&G that they already knew that there was an outage in my neighborhood. I need to look into either a large battery backup, or an automatic backup generator.

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Tuesday (24-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

One of the neighborhood cats that often patrols my yard. At night looking for mice, in the day chasing the birds away from the bird feeder. It looks like one eye might be infected.

One of the neighborhood cats. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 1600, 100 mm, f/6.4, 1/60 sec) (David J Mathre)
One of the neighborhood cats. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 1600, 100 mm, f/6.4, 1/60 sec) (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.8 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (57.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun. A deficit of 2.4 kWh. Power was out for a couple of hours in the morning. For safety reasons, power from my solar panels is disconnected when the external power supply is down. I don’t know the reason for the power outage, but when I went online to report it got a message from PSE&G that they already knew that there was an outage in my neighborhood. I need to look into either a large battery backup, or an automatic backup generator.

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