Tag: Blue Jay

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.

Sunday (12-July-2020) — New Jersey

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.

Now that it is getting hot, the birds are starting to use the birdbath to cool down. Time-lapse video of a Gray Catbird in the birdbath.

While moving the last of the hot pepper plants outdoors, I discovered a batch of very tiny Stink Bugs that just hatched on the back side of a pepper plant leaf. Now I know what to look for so I don’t have as many infesting the house.


Hatchling Stink Bugs . Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (82.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Much more sun. A surplus of 22.8 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (411 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (356 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of cloudy days and a Tropical Storm during the week. A deficit of 55 kWh.


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Saturday (11-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

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


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

Northern Cardinal. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Northern Cardinal. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.9 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (53.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. A mixture of clouds and sun. A deficit of 8.0 kWh. With the elevated temperatures outside, the Geothermal HVAC system is working nearly full time to keep the house cool.


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Friday (10-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Survived Tropical Storm Fay without any damage. A good amount of rain (3.3 inches, 84 mm), that filled the nearly dry pond. The frogs sounded happy.

Birds of the Day: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Brown-headed Cowbird, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, Mourning Dove, LBJ, Chipping Sparrow, and Gray Catbird. Can’t tell if the LBJ is a female House Finch, or immature/female Brown-headed Cowbird.


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

Wildflowers of the Day: Teazel, Black-eyed Susan, Sunflower, Larkspur, Sweet William, and Marigold. This is the first Marigold flower of the season. Last year that section was mainly Marigold with some Bee Balm. This year the section is mainly Bee Balm, Lemon-Mint, Horsemint.


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

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.1 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (8.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of clouds and rain. A deficit of 38.6 kWh. At least the solar panels got well washed, and the rain barrels filled.


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Thursday (09-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Brown-headed Cowbird (female). A gang of 10+ noisy teenage Blue Jay’s took over the birdfeeders, until a Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up. The Blue Jay’s left without a fight.


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

Daily Electric Energy Used (58.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (64.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Finally some sun in the afternoon. A surplus of 6.3 kWh.


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