Tag: Cat

Tuesday (07-January-2025) — New Jersey

Nine-Years Ago Today. Sunset from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Semester at Sea. (07-Jan-2016, Pacific Ocean)

Animal Tracks in the Snow

We had a couple of inches of snow yesterday. This morning, I went on a walkabout looking for animal tracks in the snow. I found bird, cat, fox, and rabbit tracks. I was especially interested in finding where the gaps in the deer fence were. In the past some of the larger critters (raccoons and possums) have enlarged these holes to the point where the deer finally got through. In those spots I needed to install a bottom section of plastic-coated wire fence to close the gaps. First a video of where a neighborhood cat gets under the front gate. She has used this as a way to escape being chased by a fox.

Cat tracks in the snow where it gets under the front gate. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Cat tracks in the snow where it gets under the front gate. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Cat tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Cat tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Rabbit tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Rabbit tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Fox tracks in the snow attempting to cross the pond.. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Fox tracks in the snow attempting to cross the pond. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Field mouse tunnel/tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Field mouse tunnel/tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens

Animal Tracks in the Snow. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Animal tracks in the snow used to identify holes in the fence. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Night Sky, Moon, Star Trails, Jet Trails, and Meteor Trails over New Jersey

The night sky started cloud free. I wanted to have the telescopes out but wasn’t really sure how long the sky would remain clear. I set up a Nikon Z9 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens pointed SSE to monitor the sky. Settings for the camera were 15 mm, ISO 800, f/11, and 120 second exposures using the intervalometer with a 4 second delay between exposures. Composites were created using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). First image, the sky was relatively clear for the Vespera Pro telescopes to observe the moon. Second image, an 8-minute segment with a meteor trail. Third image, the sky was relatively clear for the Vespera Pro telescopes to observe M42, the Orion nebula. Fourth image, the full night showing lots of clouds passing. I’ve also included a slideshow with 28-minute star trail segments for the night. At the end there is time-lapse video of the night sky.

Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails (with a meteor trail) Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails (with a meteor trail) Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.

Star trails slideshow. Individual images are available in my PhotoShelter gallery.

Thursday (11-March-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Not many visitors to the birdfeeder (either due to the warm weather or the neighborhood cat sitting under the birdfeeder): Carolina Wren, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


Daily backyard visitors. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Neighborhood cat under the birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (46.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (57.8 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny. Geothermal HVAC system on, but was able to open the house for a few hours in the afternoon when the outside temperature was higher outdoors than indoors. A surplus of 11.1 kWh. Three days in a row that the solar panels produced a surplus.

Six-Years Ago (07-March-2015) — Argentina

Gone to See Patagonia 2015 Photography Tour with Thom Hogan. Day 6: Hosteria El Pilar.

Sleepy House Cat. (David J Mathre)
Sleepy House Cat at Hosteria El Pilar. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)

Fire in the Fireplace. (David J Mathre)
Fire in the Fireplace at Hosteria El Pilar. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (09-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Early morning (06:35) neighborhood cat hunting under the birdfeeder.


Early Morning Neighborhood Cat Hunting Under the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Morning at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Gray Catbird, House Finch, Song Sparrow, and Northern Cardinal.


Morning at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, Song Sparrow, and Northern Cardinal.


Afternoon at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Contact me if you are interested in a Time-lapse Video of the Morning or Afternoon session at the Birdfeeders. My setup for the birdfeeder images is a Nikon D850 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens set to take one image every 5 seconds over a 5 hour period (~3600 images). The new time-lapse video format is 720p (1080 x 720 pixels) and 1 frame/second. The length of the video is about 1 hour in a 1 GB MP4 file. The previous time-lapse videos of the birdfeeders were at 12 frames/second, and to be honest were too fast to identify the birds.

Daily Electric Energy Used (54.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (35.1 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of clouds. A deficit of 19.1 kWh.

Tuesday (28-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The birds noticed a cat lurking below the birdfeeder.


Local Neighborhood Cat Lurking below the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Morning at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Thrasher, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Northern Cardinal.


Morning at the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and Northern Cardinal.


Afternoon at the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (75.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (66.1 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More clouds. A deficit of 9.6 kWh. .