Seven-Years Ago (07-August-2011) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Is this the buck that brought the invasive “Mile-A-Minute” vine into my yard? It is hard to believe how many trees were killed by this vine since then…

Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 250, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 250, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 360, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 360, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
Young Buck. Backyard Nature -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.

Friday (20-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Day and Nighttime Nature in New Jersey.

While moving some of the wood being used build the stairway to my patio, I noticed some holes in the ground with a relatively large cicada larva. It had spent the last 13 or 17 years in the ground, and is waiting for a rain storm before crawling to the nearest tree. There it will crawl up and got through the final metamorphosis to the insect phase. We can expect the loud noise of the cicada in the near future as they look for a mate.

Cicada Larva just out of the ground. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Cicada Larva just out of the ground. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Later in the afternoon, I saw a scruffy Cardinal at the bird feeder. Probably an immature bird just getting its adult red colored feathers. There were a large number of deer in the backyard. At least four fawns with spots,  four or more doe’s, and one buck with its new antlers.


After dark, I could see both the waxing gibbous moon and mars peaking in and out of the clouds. I couldn’t get both in the field of view with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm lens. Switching to a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm lens I was just barely able to get both in the same image. The image of the moon was sharper with the Nikon D850 camera since it was shot with the mirror up, silent mode. With the exposure being used, Mars was just barely visible as a disk.

Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Gibbous Moon and Mars (tiny disk near the bottom of the image). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Gibbous Moon and Mars (tiny disk near the bottom of the image). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Mars. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Mars. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Three-Years Ago (03-November-2014) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey: Deer and Vultures.

Pair of Bucks in My Backyard. Now that it is hunting season, they stay close to the house – and I don’t often see two bucks being peaceful during the rutting season.  The turkey vultures were also soaring looking for road killed deer. More deer are killed by automobiles than hunters.

Bucks in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1250, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bucks in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1250, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey vulture soaring in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/3200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey vulture soaring in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/3200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (07-August-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature New Jersey.

Young Buck sticking its Tongue out. Note it has “mile-a-minute”  vine stuck to its side. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.

How and when the mile-a-minute vine (invasive weeds) were transported into my yard. Within a few years the vines took over much of my backyard – killing many trees. The vines are more aggressive than the wild grape vines and poison ivy vines. It has taken significant effort to reclaim the yard.

Young Buck. Backyard Nature in my Backyard -- Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Young Buck.  Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR II lens (ISO 280, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec).  (David J Mathre)

Friday (05-August-2016) — New Jersery

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

There was a herd of over two dozen deer in my backyard this evening. Or why I am now dealing with Lyme disease. Lets Dance. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/2, 1/160 sec).

Lets Dance. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/2, 1/160 sec). (David J Mathre)
Lets Dance. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/2, 1/160 sec). (David J Mathre)