Birds of the Day — House Finch and Eastern Phoebe. After the last chick fledged from the Eastern Phoebe nest, it looks like the parents are getting the nest ready for another brood.
House Finch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)House Finch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spring flowers of the day — Red, Pink, and Oriental Poppies. Love-in-a-Mist, Daisy, Bachelor Button, Cornflower, and Lance-leaf Coreopsis.
Poppies. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Spring Wildflowers. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (48.8 kWh) from meter reading. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (80.9 kWh) from meter reading. Much more sun. A surplus of 32.1 kWh.
Weekly Electric Energy Used (317 kWh) from meter reading. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (434 kWh) from meter reading. A surplus of 117 kWh.
I went out just after sunrise to check if any of the poppy flowers started to open, and noticed a very small fawn with spots lying down in the clovers. The Doe left it for daycare while she went out for something to eat.
Young Spotted Fawn. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
I continue to monitor the Eastern Phoebe nest above my door. So far just one of the parents sitting on the nest — no evidence any of the eggs have hatched.
Eastern Phoebe sitting in the nest. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 1600, 280 mm, f/2.8, 1/280 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spring flowers of the day include Five-spot, Dandelion, Johnny Jump Up, Rhododendron, Forget-me-not, Siberian Wallflowers, California Poppy, and Red Poppy.
Daily Flowers — Landscape. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Flowers — Portrait. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Grass grows fast this time of the year and needed to be cut.
Daily Electric Energy Used (53.1 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Intermittent clouds all day. A surplus of 8.5 kWh.
It was a busy day. Up very early to see the Waning Gibbous moon. Birds for the day included Mourning Dove, Gray Catbird, House Finch, Brown-headed Cowbird, Indigo Bunting, Chipping Sparrow, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The Indigo Bunting is new here. With all of the rain, the grass is growing fast and needed to be mowed. Afterwards, I took a walkabout and came upon both a Fowler’s Toad, and an American Bullfrog. Lots of early spring flowers including Prunella Vulgaris (also known as Self-Heal, Heal-All, and Woundwort), Jack in the Pulpit, Five-spot, Forget Me Not, Johnny Jump Up, Siberian Wallflower, Crimson Clover, Allium, California Poppy, Flax, Dogwood, and Bethlehem Star (Grass Lily). As a bonus, at the end of the day, I found a White Poppy flower. This is the first regular poppy to bloom outdoors this year. The California Poppies have been blooming for a couple of weeks now.
Waning Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Birds Viewed from my Patio. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Male Indigo Bunting. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Fowler’s Toad. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Kermit the Bullfrog. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
May Flowers — Portrait Mode. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
May Flowers — Landscape Mode. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
White Poppy. Composite of 100 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 64, 60 mm, f/4, 1/30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Daily Electric Energy Used (56.1 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (82.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun. A surplus of 26.4 kWh.
A Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, and House Finch below the feeder. Carolina Wren at the bird feeder. American Black Crow in the backyard.
Dark-eyed Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).Female Northern Cardinal (male House Finch in the background). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).Carolina Wren. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 90, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).American Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
Not as many birds on the patio. A Carolina Wren and Mourning Pigeon. There also is an unidentified bird that looks just like a Dark-eyed Junco, but with tan/brown rather than grey colored feathers.
Carolina Wren at a bird feeder. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens and 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 320, 280 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)Mourning Dove behind a frozen bird bath. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens and 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 320, 280 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)Small bird. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens with 1.4x TC (David J Mathre)
