Landscape - David Mathre Photography

Wednesday (24-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Morning Daily Walkabout. Nikon D850 camera with a 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Butterflies (Spiceberry and Tiger Swallowtails, Monarch, and Common Buckeye. Both Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) moths. I also saw one of the bull frogs near the pond. If you look closely at the final image you can see a Mosquito above the frog’s eye.

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

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) moths. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

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

Kermit the Frog with a Mosquito above its eye (cropped). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 100-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 900, 500 mm, f/5.6. 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (75.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. With lower temperatures the amount of Electric Energy used was down 1.5 kWh and with the sun out most of the day the solar electricity production was up 44.0 kWh from yesterday for a surplus of 25 kWh. Helps to make up for some of the previous very hot (increased usage) and rainy (decrease solar production) days.

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Tuesday (23-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The Daily Walkabout didn’t happen as it was raining most of the day. At least it is a lot cooler outside. The high was 74 °F, 19 °F lower than yesterday. Now up to 1.80 inches of rain over three days. Just before dinnertime, I noticed that there were two fawns with spots in the lawn just behind my patio. Their mother was nowhere in sight. In the last image, I noticed that the rabbit is still around, and didn’t get eaten by the coyotes in the neighborhood.

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

Daily Electric Energy Used (52.0 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The amount of Electric Energy used was down 26 kWh from yesterday, but still a 20.5 kWh deficit because of the clouds limiting the solar production.

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Monday (22-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. Still hot and humid outside. The high was 93 °F with a heat index of 108 °F according to my personal weather station. Clouds developed and ultimately more thunderstorms (two days in a row) with 1.08 inches of rain over the two days. A large number of mushrooms popped up overnight, and I was able to get an image of the Troll mushroom farmers guarding their crop.

Troll Mushroom Farmers. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.4, 1/80 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Focus Magic. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (78.0 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (65.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC system is able to maintain the indoor temperature at 74-76 °F using ~35 kWh of electricity. My previous 30 year old central A/C unit would not have been able to maintain the indoor temperature below 85 °F with outdoor temperatures above 90 °F and used significantly more electricity. Granted, I now have better insulation, an attic fan, and more efficient French doors.

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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. Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, and Skipper (?) butterflies. Two types of Clearwing Moths — Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). The deer were out later in the afternoon before the heavy thunderstorm (2.24″, 57 mm)

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

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

Skipper (?) Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). 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 (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)

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 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.

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).