Tag: American Crow

Sunday (19-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, and Carolina Wren. Morning time-lapse video (06:08-09:02), Afternoon time-lapse video (16:34-20:21).

Daily Electric Energy Used (65.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (72.1 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun with clouds in the afternoon. A surplus of 6.7 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (391 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (481 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. A surplus of 90 kWh.

Saturday (18-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Downy Woodpecker. Something different, I set up a D850 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens to take an image every 5 seconds. Then processed as a time-lapse video.

Butterfly of the Day: Common Skipper?.

Small black butterfly (Common Skipper?). Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Small black butterfly (Common Skipper?). Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

There definitely are two types of Clearwing moths were present. They prefer pink to purple flowers (Bee-Balm, Lemon-Mint, Bergamot, Larkspur, Delphinium). The Clearwing Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) is larger, and has light-colored front legs. The Clearwing Snowberry moth (Hemaris diffinis) is smaller, and has dark/black colored front legs. I am trying different camera lens combinations to see which is the best to capture images of these moths.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS VIEWING THE SLIDE SHOWS PLEASE TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER AND LET ME KNOW WHICH BROWSER YOU ARE USING. THANKS!!!

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (80.8 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of sun. A surplus of 19.3 kWh.

Wednesday (15-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, American Crow, Tufted Titmouse, and House Finch.


Birds of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Wildflowers of the Day: Pink Poppy, Red Poppy, and Teazel


Wildflowers of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Butterflies of the Day: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, and Silver-spotted Skipper.


Butterflies of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

There definitely are two types of Clearwing moths were present. They prefer pink to purple flowers (Bee-Balm, Lemon-Mint, Bergamot, Larkspur, Delphinium). The Clearwing Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) is larger, and has light-colored front legs. The Clearwing Snowberry moth (Hemaris diffinis) is smaller, and has dark/black colored front legs. I am trying different camera lens combinations to see which is the best to capture images of these moths.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D4 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Snowberry Moths (Hemaris diffinis) captured with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS VIEWING THE SLIDE SHOWS PLEASE TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER AND LET ME KNOW WHICH BROWSER YOU ARE USING. THANKS!!!

Daily Electric Energy Used (54.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (72.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and more clouds. A surplus of 17.4 kWh.

Thursday (25-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: American Crow and Blue Jay.

American Crows in a tree. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 500, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Crows in a tree. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 500, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Early Summer Wildflowers: Yellow Prickly Pear, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Onion Grass, Teasel, Pink Poppy, Red Poppy, Bachelor Button, Larkspur, Delphinium, and Forget-me-not.


Summer Flowers. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Leica recently updated the firmware for the SL2 camera. One of the new features is the ability to take a 187 megapixel (16736 x 11168) image using the sensor shifting capability. After taking the first image, the sensor is shifted in 1/2 pixel increments to take 8 additional images, then combine the date in camera. The native resolution of the sensor is 47 megapixels (8368 x 5584). To use this feature, the camera must be mounted on a stable platform (tripod), uses the electronic shutter, and turns off both lens and in-camera motion reduction. My first test of this feature is with the Prickly Pear Cactus flower image (full image and cropped 4507 x 3605 image).

Yellow Prickly Pear flowers. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/16, 1/10 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Yellow Prickly Pear flowers. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/16, 1/10 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Yellow Prickly Pear flowers. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/16, 1/10 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Yellow Prickly Pear flowers. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/16, 1/10 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (56.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (65.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 9.7 kWh. The solar panels continue to produce more energy than required to keep the house cool with the energy efficient Geothermal HVAC system.


powered by Ambient Weather

Saturday (20-June-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Northern Cardinal, House Finch, American Crow, Gray Catbird, Turkey Vulture, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, and Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Eastern Phoebe appears to be reconstructing the top of the nest?


Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Spots and his sister Spots. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

First day of Summer Flowers: Including Poppies (Red, Pink, Oriental, and California). Daisy, Foxglove, Cosmos, Delphinium, Cornflower, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Love-in-a-mist (seed pod), and Prickly Pear Cactus.


Poppies (portrait mode). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Poppies (landscape mode). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Wildflowers (portrait mode). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Wildflowers (landscape mode). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.8 kWh) from Sense. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (63.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More clouds. A surplus of 12.8 kWh.


powered by Ambient Weather