Saturday (15-February-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Winter birds (Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, and Mourning Dove) at and around the feeder on a cold morning. They all left when a couple of Turkey Vultures landed in a nearby tree to warm in the morning sun.




Daily Electric Energy Used (96.1 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (51.0 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny most of the day. Another high for the most solar energy produced this winter. Still not enough to completely power everything in the house especially since was really cold out and the Geothermal HVAC system was running almost continuously. A deficit of 45.1 kWh.

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Sunday (09-February-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Blue Jay letting the smaller birds know that he had arrived, and they need to leave the bird feeder.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter Gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (75.2 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (43.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny most of the day. Actually, the most solar energy produced since 05-October-2019. Still not enough to completely power the indoor hydroponic gardens, keep the house warm, and power the Synology image servers. A deficit of 31.9 kWh.

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One-Year Ago (31-January-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

American Crow, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse, and Turkey Vulture.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
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).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
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).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
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).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
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).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
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).

Tuesday (28-January-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Regulars (House Finch, Blue Jay, and Northern Cardinal) at my bird feeder.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (77.3 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (26.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny in the morning. A deficit of 50.8 kWh.

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One-Year Ago (28-January-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

A lot of birds at the bird feeder today. Dark-eyed Junco, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, and House Finch. At one point a Dark-eyed Junco and Carolina Wren got into a fight over sunflower seeds. Ultimately, the Blue Jay settled the fight.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Dark-eyed Junco looking down at the bird feeder. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 2200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Blue Jay looking down at the bird feeder. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1000, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker at a bird feeder. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 560, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Carolina Wren at the frozen bird bath. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 640, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
House Finch at a bird feeder. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 400, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).


Dark-eyed Junco and Carolina Wren fighting over sunflower seeds. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed in my PhotoShelter gallery.