Tag: cardinal

Wednesday (25-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

There were a number of birds out today. Several Juncos feeding on the ground, a House Finch, Marsh Wren, and several Northern Cardinal feeding at the bird feeder. A “murder” of Black Crows were working the lawn looking for earthworms. The earthworms were out because the ground is saturated. I haven’t seen any Robins yet this spring that would also be after the earthworms. The crows attracted the attention of a Turkey Vulture that landed looking for something to eat. The crows quickly joined together making a lot of noise and then chasing the turkey vulture away.

Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Junco. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
March Wren. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
March Wren. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Black Crow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)



Individual images from the slideshows can be found in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (60.8 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (10.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy and rainy all day. A deficit of 50.0 kWh.

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Wednesday (25-December-2019) — Florida

Gone to See Florida — 2019 Road Trip.

Christmas Day walkabout in an Urban Garden and Farm. I went out three times during the day with three different camera & lens combinations. Fuji X-H1 camera with a 200 mm f/2 lens and 1.4x teleconverter, Fuji X-T3 camera with a 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens, and Nikon 1 V3 camera with a 70-300 mm VR lens. The Hens were still feasting on the broccoli leaves I brought them. Cardinal, Blue Jay, and Red-headed Woodpecker at the bird feeder. A squirrel in the Carambola and Mango tree. Many flowers (Flame Lily, Canna Lily, Chinese Lantern, Rossle (Hybiscus), Purple Bengal Clockvine). Also Bananas and Figs.

Hen eating broccoli leaves. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4 x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hen eating broccoli leaves. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4 x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)


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



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



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



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



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


Hen. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4 x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hen. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4 x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (52.2 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Overall a net deficit of 20.4 kWh. Most of the hydroponic gardens were off or only on for fewer hours. Also, the thermostat for the Geothermal heater and hybrid heat pump hot water heater were set for vacation mode.

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Saturday (06-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds, Bees, Butterflies, and Kermit the Frog. Today’s images were taken during my walkabouts with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. Flower and wildflower images will be in a different post. The first Tiger Swallowtail butterfly had lost its tails. The Swallowtails are pretty skittish — not staying in one place for very long, making capturing photos a challenge. Latter on I came upon what I think is a Variegated Fritillary Butterfly (Euptoieta claudia). It was more cooperative staying still for a bit. I am seeing several different types of bees — honey bees, bumble bees, sweat bees, tiny green bees on the different flowers currently in bloom. The interesting one today was a large black bee, about the size of a Bumble Bee but without any hair like a Bumble Bee. This bee had been working Coreopsis (Tickseed) flowers with yellow pollen since its bottom was bright yellow. Back at the pond, it appears that Kermit caught a dragonfly.

Male Cardinal at the Birdfeeder. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Male Cardinal at the Birdfeeder. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


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



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



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


Daily Power Use (58.9 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (50.17 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. It was cloudy out much of the day, so I generated less power than the geothermal HVAC system needed to keep the house cool.

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Monday (10-December-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Birds (Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse) and Squirrels feeding on my patio. The squirrels have stayed off the bird feeder ever since I gave them last years crop of black walnuts. They carry the walnuts off to be buried as part of their winter food cache. Later in the evening, I got an image of the frozen bird bath. The pump was not able to maintain the fountain, but the underwater LED lights were still on.



Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Frozen Fountain. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens + 1.4x TC (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (05-December-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

The black squirrel returned. I took a sequence of images of it eating a nut on my patio. It then jumped up onto the bird feeder. Time to electrify again! After chasing the squirrel away, the birds came back. Including a shy female Northern Cardinal. Later in the afternoon, the Turkey Vultures started showing up. They are spending the nights in the neighborhood. Some in the conifer trees, and some on the roofs of homes. So far they have not tried to roost on my solar panels. The first set of vulture images were taken using a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 lens. The image quality is degraded since they were shot from inside through a double pained insulated window. The other Turkey Vulture images were taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera using a brand new Fujicon 200 mm f/2 lens. The Fuji 200 mm f/2 lens is heavy, but not as heavy as the Nikon 200 mm f/2 lens. The Fuji lens is white (to keep it cool when in the sun?), and includes a lens mount that fits onto Arca-Swiss tripod mounts. The Turkey Vulture images taken with the Fuji lens look sharp (all were taken hand-held). I look forward to going out and using this lens some more. It also includes a 1.4x teleconverter that I will need to test.