Tag: butterflies

Sunday (16-September-2018) — New Jersey

Late Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Today was the second day in a row that the sun showed itself. Several young bucks with new antlers paraded through the yard. They appear to like to eat the acorns that have fallen onto the driveway. The ground is still very wet with mushrooms popping up every night. I caught one of the house trolls admiring the two types of mushrooms. For the last several days, I have been seeing some rather large spiders in the garden. Today, I got images of one with a funnel like web. The other one had an egg sack the size of a marble that was attached to its posterior. Finally, I still have a number of flowers and wildflowers in bloom. Behind an electric fence to keep the deer away.





Individual images from the slideshows can be viewed here.

Saturday (18-August-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I’m back from a 10-day trip to Germany. It was hot and dry in Germany, but apparently hot and wet in New Jersey. The grass needs to be mowed, the weeds need to be pulled, and the patio garden cleaned up. Some of the tomatoes are ripe, but others rotted. The tomato leaves are turning yellow (too much water, or need nitrogen fertilizer?).  Several of the hot peppers are bright red and ready to be picked. There was one remaining yellow squash, and two white eggplants. The wildflower garden continues to attract butterflies and bees. This was the first female black swallowtail butterfly that I have seen this season. A bumblebee was pollinating the basil flowers. There were several Monarch butterflies feeding on the zinnia wildflowers. I also made a quick trip to the local weekly farmers market. It is smaller than the daily markets I saw at several public squares in Germany.

Female Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/950 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Female Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/950 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumblebee on Basil Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/1100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumblebee on Basil Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/1100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)



Tuesday (17-October-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey

I left part of the backyard wildflower garden/meadow intact until the fuel oil tank needs to be removed. Even though it is getting cooler at night there are still a lot of flowers in bloom. The bees and Painted Lady butterflies are busy working the flowers.

Bee on a pink Cosmos flower. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens. (David J Mathre)
Bee on a pink Cosmos flower. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens. (David J Mathre)


Friday (04-August-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

The Monarch butterflies also like the orange marigold flowers in my wildflower meadow. mage taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec).

Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold flower. Backyard summer nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold flower.  Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (03-August-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a Sunflower in my backyard wildflower meadow.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a Sunflower. Backyard summer nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/350 sec). (© 2017 David J Mathre)
Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a Sunflower.  Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/350 sec). (© 2017 David J Mathre)