Bee Balm - David Mathre Photography

Tuesday (07-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, and Chipping Sparrow.

Backyard Summer Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

The pond is nearly dry, but still has a number of frogs.

Kermit the Bullfrog and his relatives. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Summer Wildflowers of the Day: Sunflower, Black-eyed Susan, Four O’Clock, Red Poppy, Lemon-Mint, Horsemint, Bee Balm, Daisy, Sweet William, Thistle, and Teazel. The Bees really like the Bergamont (Bee Balm, Lemon Mint, Horsemint, Monarda). I like it because the deer don’t like it.

Summer Wildflowers. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (66.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (53.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of Clouds. A deficit of 12.7 kWh.

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Saturday (04-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Song Sparrow, and Mourning Dove.

Backyard Summer Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Flowers of the Day: Poppies (Red, Pink, Icelandic), Black-eyed Susan, Moth Mullein, Blanket Flower, Larkspur, Foxglove, Spiderwort, Bergamot, Horsemint, Lemon-Mint, Bee Balm, Monarda, Mexican Hat, Teazel

Summertime Flowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (60.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mixed clouds and some sun. A deficit of 0.8 kWh. Power glitch in the morning stopped data collection on the Sense Monitor until it was rebooted. The daily numbers are guesstimates.

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Thursday (02-July-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, and House Finch.

Backyard Summer Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Flowers of the Day: Poppies (Red, Pink, Icelandic), Larkspur, Foxglove, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Black-eyed Susan, Daisy, Common Mullein, Blanket Flower, Cosmos, Spiderwort, Bergamot, Horsemint, Lemon-Mint, Bee Balm, Monarda, Mexican Hat

Summertime Flowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (57.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (81.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Mixed clouds and some sun. A surplus of 24.6 kWh.

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Wednesday (21-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout, today with a Nikon D810a camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR lens. This lens doesn’t quite have the reach, but the high resolution sensor allows the images to be blown up. The Hummingbird Clearwing moths really like the Bee Balm flowers.

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

Daily Electric Energy Used (58.7 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (43.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC had to work hard (21.4 kWh) because the temperature outside went above 90°F. Daily net deficit 15.5 kWh.

One note — the WaterFurnace Symphony software indicated the system used 13 kWh, however the Sense Energy monitor indicated that the geothermal heat pump used 21.4 kWh. I tend to believe the Sense numbers since they more closely the energy being recorded at the external power company (PSE&G) meters. I’ve asked the WaterFurnace folks in the past about the discrepancy, but they didn’t have a good answer. The Sense folks told me they thought that the WaterFurnace/Symphony system was only measuring one phase of the energy even though the system is powered by the 220V circut (using two phases). I wish an electrical engineer that understands this better would correct me here.

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Monday (20-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout, today with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. This is the highest resolution camera in my collection, and the 200-500 mm VR lens light enough to shoot handheld for some time. The Hummingbird Clearwing Moths are back. Feeding on Zinnia and Bee Balm flowers.

Feeding on Zinnia Flowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.

Feeding on Bee Balm Flowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (62.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC had to work hard (25.6 kWh) because the temperature outside went to 90°F. Daily net deficit 1.1 kWh.

One note — the WaterFurnace Symphony software indicated the system used 14 kWh, however the Sense Energy monitor indicated that the geothermal heat pump used 25.6 kWh. I tend to believe the Sense numbers since they more closely the energy being recorded at the external power company (PSE&G) meters. I’ve asked the WaterFurnace folks in the past about the discrepancy, but they didn’t have a good answer. The Sense folks told me they thought that the WaterFurnace/Symphony system was only measuring one phase of the energy even though the system is powered by the 220V circut (using two phases). I wish an electrical engineer that understands this better would correct me here.