Visitors to the birdfeeder: Turkey Vulture and Northern Cardinal
Backyard Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (65.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (22.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny with more clouds. Geothermal HVAC system on. A deficit of 43.0 kWh.
I admit I am not spending as much time watching the birds or wildflowers while the butterflies and clearwing moths are present. The only bird for the day was a Turkey Vulture soaring while I was working in the yard. I also found a single Tiger Lily flower. Every year I think the deer ate them all, and then one out of the 250 bulbs planted three years ago will pop up. I also noticed some different Larkspur flowers in the wildflower meadow.
Turkey Vulture. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Flowers of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.
I didn’t see the Monarch or Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly today. The Clearwing moths were present in the Bee-Balm/Lemon-Mint wildflower meadow along with many Bumblebees. I think that there are two types of Clearwing Moths working the flowers. The Clearwing Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) which is the larger of the two, and has light-colored front legs; and The Clearwing Snowberry moth (Hemaris diffinis) which is smaller, and has dark/black colored front legs. I will be spending the next few days trying out different camera and lens combinations to figure out the best kit is to capture images of the Clearwing moths.
Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Clearwing Snowberry Moths (Hemaris diffinis) of the Day. 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 (54.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (77.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and a few clouds. A surplus of 23.3 kWh.
Daily bird images. Time to refill the bird feeders. Pair of House Finches in the morning, and a Turkey Vulture soaring in the afternoon.
Pair of House Finches hanging out at an empty bird feeder. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec) (David J Mathre)Turkey Vulture soaring. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 261 mm, f/6.4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)Turkey Vulture soaring. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 261 mm, f/6.4, 1/850 sec). (David J Mathre)
Daily Electric Energy Used (53.8 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (74.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun (some clouds). A surplus of 20.5 kWh.
American Crow, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse, and Turkey Vulture.
American Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 640, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 320, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).Dark-eyed Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).Tufted Titmouse. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 640, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens with 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 160, 280 mm, f/3.6, 1/1000 sec).